Mac And Minty Meatballs Marinara

My son loves meatballs.As a matter of fact, we all do. Ergo,I always make large batches and freeze a portion of them in single serving boxes cause I never know when or how often he(we) would want it..badly! Meatballs are an ultimate comfort food for many and its no different in our family. I am constantly experimenting with new ingredients, alternating between baking and stove-top cooking but always coming to the same conclusion- Fabulous! Yea, this is one dish that has never failed me so far. So beyond being tasty, comforting and substantial it is also very very forgiving! That is what I love about meatballs. You can't really go wrong with the taste no matter how hard you try. Now that is something you cannot say about many dishes.
I also have to say that I am partial to meatballs in marinara sauce(If you follow me regularly you would know how I have sung praises about this wonder sauce here) which is pretty much why I always use it to coat my meatballs in. Have you ever tried meatballs with raisins? I was inspired to try it after I saw Oprah rave in one of her talk-show episodes about her favorite meatballs that had a secret ingredient -- Raisins.Yeah, Trattoria Mollie's meatballs has black raisins. So here is an adapted recipe for Turkey-Sausage Meatballs With Raisins. I also tried my hand at baking the Meatballs with Broccoli Rabe.You can read that success story here.

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Ground Meat (Can be Minced Turkey/Chicken/Pork or a mixed choice)
• 1/4 Cup Chopped Mint
• 1/8 Cup Chopped Cilantro
• 1/4 Cup + 1 Tbsp Reduced-fat Milk
• 1/2 Cup Chopped Red Onion
• 2 Cloves Garlic, grated
• 3-4 Stale Brown Bread, toasted and crumbed
• 1 Egg
• 1 Tbsp Coriander Powder
• 1 Tbsp Cracked Black Pepper or less
• 1/4 Cup Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese
• 1 Tsp Salt or more/less
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
• Olive Oil for browning the meat balls
• 1/2 of 26 Oz Jar of Low-sodium Marinara Sauce , any brand

Procedure:

• Add all of the above ingredients in a wide shallow bowl except the Marinara Sauce.

• Combine the meat,bread crumbs, mint, cilantro, garlic, chopped onions, salt, cracked pepper, 1 tbsp olive oil and the cheese ONLY until combined. Over mixing will yield tough meatballs.

• Let the mixture rest for 10-15 minutes.

• Divide the mixture into golf-ball sized balls (= 25 meatballs ~).

• Coat a wide non-stick skillet with Olive oil and brown the meatballs in batches for 2-3 minutes per side. Don't fully cook it as it will get cooked in the Marinara Sauce.

• Drain them on paper towels.

• Bring the sauce to a boil. Add more salt or pepper if needed. Drop the partially cooked meatballs. Lid the pan and cook the meatballs for 15 minutes turning them gently midway.

• Enjoy them as is or with any choice of pasta. This time we had it with macaroni because my son loves it.

Enjoy!

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Spinach, Roasted Peanut And Tamarind Chutney "Spinach Thogayal"

I love greens. I have been eating one kind or the other since I have been very young. While it was more because of mom's compulsion before, I have to say I genuinely enjoy eating greens now. Furthermore, I have developed a healthy respect for their iron-rich properties. These days Spinach, Broccoli Rabe, Collards, Kale, Swiss Chard, Fenugreek Leaves are all consumed enthusiastically by the whole family. Yup Yup. We do. :)
You see,  I was raised a Lacto Vegetarian till I was 18, so we had to rely heavily on legumes, greens and dairy products for a balanced diet. Mom would make umpteen varieties of Kurma, Chutneys, Dips and Stew to please my palate as I was a super picky-eater. One of my favorite chutney was "Pulicha Keerai Thogayal(= Sorrel Leaves Chutney)". Mom would get a fresh bunch or two from the street hawker and make this chutney that I used to eat with warm rice topped with thick yogurt, like in the picture below..
Since I couldn't find 'Sorrel Leaves' I decided to use Spinach which is available in abundance where I live. :). This is a large batch that will keep well for 2-3 days in the fridge.

Ingredients(For 6-8 Servings):

• 8 Cups Packed Spinach, cleaned and completely drained of moisture
• 1/4 Cup Peanuts minus the shell
• Golf-Ball sized Tamarind, soaked in water plus seeds removed, if any
• 5-6 Dry red Chili or less if you can't take the heat
• 2 Roma Tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1/2 Medium Yellow Onion, finely chopped
• 2-3 Cloves Garlic, minced
• 4 Tbsp Split Chick Pea/Bengal Gram
• 4 Tbsp Red Lentils or Split Pigeon Peas(Tuvar Dhal)
• 2 Stalks Curry Leaves
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil for saute-ing the veggies + 1 tsp each for wilting the spinach in batches + 1 Tbsp for frying the Lentils/Pulses
• Salt as needed

For Seasoning the chutney(Optional, but highly desired)

• 1 Tsp Olive Oil
• 1/2 tsp each Cumin Seeds, Mustard Seeds, Split Black Gram Seeds "Urad Dhal"
• 1 Red Chili
• Curry Leaves

Procedure:

• Roast the peanuts in a skillet over low-medium flame, stirring now and then for about 10 minutes. When its warm enough to handle, remove the skins from the peanuts. Do resist the temptation to eat them up.

• Keep the ingredients handy.

• In a tbsp of oil, fry the split chick pea. When it turns light brown add the red lentils and continue to fry.

• Add the red chilies when both the pulses have turned brown and fry for a minute. Switch off the stove and let it cool down. Soak the tamarind in warm water.This helps the tamarind to become soft and facilitates easy grinding.

• In a wide pan, add a tbsp of oil and saute the garlic, onions. When the onions are translucent, add the chopped tomatoes and saute till it loses the raw smell.

• Add the curry leaves, fry for a minute more and switch off the stove. Move it to a plate and let it cool before grinding.

• Divide the spinach into 3 batches and wilt them separately with a tsp of oil for each batch. Don't wilt it for more than a minute. It starts leaving water.

• Move the spinach to a plate and allow it to cool before grinding! Use the water it releases to grind the chutney.

• Add the toasted peanuts, softened tamarind(remove seeds if any), fried pulses + dry red chili mixture and grind them to a paste with very little water.

• The paste should look something like this:

• Now add the spinach to the above paste and "pulse" grind with little to no water until the it comes together as a coarse chutney. Do not make a smooth paste- it looks so very unappetizing that way!
• Seasoning the chutney(An entirely optional but highly desired step): Fry all the ingredients under "Seasoning" in the oil and pour over the chutney. Mix gently and serve with rice and yogurt or just with hot rice.I have never tried it as a dip with pita bread but its an exciting idea as well.

Makes 6-8 Servings.

If you are a lover of greens like me you would love "some" of my Spinach dishes too..Seeing an awful lot? Well atleast now you know I wasn't lying about my love for greens. LoL 
Spinach Dishes: Spinach, Veggie and 3-Cheese Lasagna, Spinach and Lentil Dry Curry with Grated Coconut Garnish,  Spinach And Artichoke Frittata,   Moroccan Chickpea, Spinach, Raisin and Couscous Stuffed Red Pepper,  Saag Paneer,  Puff-Pastry Spinach And Cheese Swirls.Pinwheels,  Spinach and Split-pea Stuffed Flat bread/Paratha,  Spinach Pesto with Pignoli,  Turkish Borek With Yufka leaves,  Microwaved Spinach and Malai Kofta.

Enjoy!

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"Ghee, Nut and Maida Flour " Halwa

So India won the World Cup Cricket 2011..It was a momentous day for team and the cricket crazy Indians.While me and my hubby were flying high over India's magnificent triumph over Sri Lanka we were brought to earth by none other than our sweet son --Yeah, A choked on a big chunk of juicy "Methley Plum" and gave us quite a scare. I was wondering if I should call 911 or do a "Heimlich maneuver" but wasn't really sure how. But God is always around to take care of little ones. He has designed and installed the magic of "Puke mechanism" in them. Don't you think of it as magic? I do. So what went in did come out along with morning brunch, sticky mucus and a few other technicolored stuff that we dared not inspect closer. Took us nearly half an hour to cleanup after..Nothing like a hard dose of reality to bring us back to earth. My son's timing is always perfect. :). The one good thing about it was that I didn't die of the scare my son gave me.A person can only handle so much of excitement in one day!
Anyways, many of my blog buddies decided  to make/bake something sweet to salute the "Boys in Blue". And I couldn't think of anything better and more appropriate dessert than this quick Halwa that can be made from basic pantry ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 Cup Maida Flour (Finely Milled Wheat Flour)
• 1-1/4 Cups Granulated Sugar
• 2-1/2 Cups Water
• 1 Cup Clarified Butter  "Ghee" or (1/2 Cup Olive Oil + 1/2 Cup Clarified Butter)
• 1/2 Tsp Cardamom Powder
• 1/4 Cup Cashews
• Orange Food Color (Optional) 

Procedure:

• Heat about a tbsp of Clarified Butter and "lightly" brown the cashews. Set aside.
• Make the "sugar syrup" by placing water and sugar in a pan and cooking it on a medium flame for about 15 minutes. It doesn't have to be extremely sticky.

• In a pan, dry fry the flour for about 5 minutes until it is slightly browned.
• Add the Clarified butter to the flour and keep stirring until it resembles a coarse meal.
• Pour the sugar syrup by ladle-fuls to the flour mixture - stir until the flour thickens

• Add more sugar syrup.Repeat the above step. Continuous stirring is the key.

• Throw in the browned cashews to the flour along with some more syrup.If using the food color now would be the time to add it.(I skipped the food coloring this time).

• Repeat until you exhaust all the sugar syrup. The "halwa" should come away from the sides of the pan.

• After nearly 20 minutes of stirring and adding this is how it should look like. (Add 2tbsp more ghee as a finishing touch if you prefer a more decadent version).

• Serve warm, cold or at room temperature.

Makes 5-6 Small Servings.

Enjoy!

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Potato, Sweet Potato,Carrots And Peas Stuffed Masala Buns/Palya Buns (Cricket World Cup 2011 Special)

**This is a post dedicated to "Cricket World Cup 2011" Finals (Happening today) -- "Chak De! India( = Go For It! India)" **

I have seen plenty of folks make this famous "Masala Buns"( also called as "Palya Buns") and now its my turn.:). The reason why I didn't make this before was due to my fear of "Yeast". One of my New Year's resolution was to get over this fear.Now I have to pat myself on the back cause I went and did it.I know its quite silly to be nervous about a frothy ingredient that loves to eat sugary stuff and excrete carbon-di-oxide.Isn't it?
It has always been my dream to bake Bread/Rolls/Buns in my kitchen,be enthralled and enveloped by the smell of freshly baked goods coming right out of my oven.Now that it has finally happened,I am over the moon. Here I was thinking that I was somehow going to mess it up but I didn't. And this recipe is a keeper.It will be made over and over again with all kinds of fillings. This time though I went with "Potato, Sweet Potato, Carrot and Peas" filling. Yea, Yea,I know. I have bought plenty of Sweet Potatoes and I am looking for ways to use it up. So bear with me.
Now I am on a roll towards making rolls, buns and the likes. I have to thank Champa of "Versatile Kitchen" who has clarified many of my "bread baking/vital wheat gluten/yeast" related questions. So I told to myself that if I ever bake anything with Yeast, it will be from her blog and post about it - my way of showing gratitude to someone who took time to help me lay my "yeastly demons" to a rest. Champa has been baking with yeast for quite some time and she has plenty of posts on breads and rolls. So make sure to drop by her space.
Why did I post so early today, you may wonder. Well its because many of my blog buddies have decided to post some kind of "Game Day Food"  today as its the Finals of Cricket World Cup 2011 between India and Sri Lanka. India is in the finals. Woooohoooooo. Well done, Boys in (Light) Blue! The Very Best Of Luck to you all! Sri Lanka, Bring it onnn!
Hey Guys, did you notice something new about my space?? I have made the pictures bigger. How do you all like it? Let me know.

Ingredients:
For the Buns:

• 3 Cups King Arthur All-Purpose Flour
• 2-1/2 Tsp Dry Yeast
• 1 Cup Warm Water
• 1/2 Cup Warm Milk + more for kneading
• 1/2 Stick (4 Tbsp) Butter, melted
• 2 Tbsp Granulated Sugar

For the Filling:

• 5-6 Small Gold Potatoes, peeled and cut into big chunks
• 2 Large Sweet Potatoes, peeled and cut into big chunks
• 3 Small Carrots, peeled and sliced thickly
• 1/4 Cup Fresh or Frozen Green Peas
• 2 Cloves Garlic, minces
• 1 Small Onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 Tsp Fennel seeds
• 3 Green Chilies or less/more, finely chopped
• 1/4 Tsp Turmeric powder
• 1 Tsp Garam Masala
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• Salt as needed

For the Egg Wash or Milk Wash for the buns:
If you choose Egg Wash:

• 1 Egg Whisked

If you choose Milk Wash:

• 1 Tbsp Milk + 1 Tbsp Olive Oil + 1/2 Tsp Sugar

Procedure:

• To check if the Yeast is Alive: Pour the warm water, sugar and the yeast in a wide pan and let it sit in a warm spot undisturbed for 10 minutes. If it becomes frothy and bubbly like in the picture below, then Its active.

• Add the flour, milk, salt, butter to the pan and adding more warm milk as needed to make a soft pliable dough. Knead it for 8-10 minutes on a flat board using a "push-pull" motion. Smear oil on the top.

• Cover and let the dough rest in a warm place for about 45 minutes to an hour.

• Meanwhile add the Potato, Sweet Potato and Carrot in a pot of "slightly salted" water and bring to a boil.

• Remove and drain the veggies once they are fork tender. Roughly smash them and set aside.

• In a pan, heat 2 Tbsp of Olive oil and saute the garlic, onions, green chilies, fennel seeds until the onions are slightly browned. Add the salt, turmeric and garam masala powder and saute for a couple more minutes.

• Throw the smashed vegetables along with fresh/frozen peas and toss them together till the evenly incorporated. Check for taste. Add more spice or salt if needed. Divide the mixture into 11-12 even-sized balls.

• The dough doubles in size after an hour.

• Divide the dough into 11-12 even-sized balls. Smear little oil on top and cover it. Let it rest for 15 more minutes.

• Pat the dough into 3-4 inch circles on a plate with hands. Place a "golf ball" sized filling mixture in the center.

• Bring the edges together to the top.

• Press all the edges on the top making sure the filling is securely enveloped inside the dough.

• Repeat the same for all the dough balls and place them on a baking sheet "seam-side" down. Let it rest for 45 more minutes.
• Give them an egg-wash or milk-wash before baking them.

• Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees F. Bake them in a 350F oven for 18-22 minutes in the center rack.

• They should be slightly browned on the top, like below-

• Have at it with a cup of tea/coffee to wash it down. It tastes good the next day too.

Makes 11-12 Single Servings.

Enjoy!

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