First roast some cubed beets – 400 for 20 min
While that’s roasting – make the dressing. The recipe calls for juice of 3 sour oranges and 1/4 cup lime juice. I did 2 cut up mandarins , 1 large tbsp of marmalade, about 1/2 cup or lime juice, some vinegar, salt and sugar(I used some jaggery which is called Panela in Mexico)
Marinate one large onion, some cilantro and mint and 1 Serrano (recipe calls for 2 habanero which are beyond us)
Add roasted beets hot and let it cool
My friend Anshu is from Himachal Pradesh, the beautiful hill state of India. She tells me pahari (hill) food means no onions and no garlic. Sounds good to me- less prep is always good. This is her recipe. My only modification is to use ghee (or butter). In Maharashtrian food- the tempering for yogurt based dishes is always in ghee. This was so good with dosa. It’s also delicious with rice and roti.
Boil and cube 3-4 medium potatoes (about 1-2 cups)
To a cup of yogurt- add 1/2 tsp each of turmeric, red chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and salt.
Tempering (phodni/tadka): heat 2-3 tbsp of butter till it lightly browns or ghee- add 1 tsp of cumin seeds till they sputter, add a pinch of asafetida.
Add potatoes and cook till they are heated up: Add the yogurt mixture and about 1/2 cup of water. Cook over gentle heat till bubbling (about 5 -10 minutes). Add 1/2 tsp of garam masala and cilantro to garnish.
The best pasta primavera I’ve ever had was in a small Italian restaurant (whose name I’ve forgotten) in the upper east side in NYC. The pasta was fresh, the sauce was brothy, lemony and creamy and the vegetables were delicious. It was a memorable meal. This recipe is in homage to that pasta and to all the tiny Italian restaurants in New York.
Boil water- steam or boil asparagus broken into 2 inch chunks for 2 minutes . Cook pasta in the same water. For the sauce- add 1-2 tbsp of butter, add some chopped garlic and 1-2 tbsp of capers till the garlic just starts browning. Add a cup of vegetable broth and cook for about 5 minutes till it is reduced by half. Add asparagus, a splash or two of heavy cream and 1-2 tsp of lemon juice. Toss pasta with sauce and garnish with parsley and Parmesan cheese
I’ve been on a quest for years for the perfect sagu recipe – the kind served with rava idli and ghee at the udupi restaurant in Bangalore. I think this might be it. The trick is to thicken the potato curry with ground roasted chana dal – it’s delicious with rice, dosa, roti or Malaysian parantha (a store bought treat – sadly too unhealthy for daily eats)
Step 1: roast and grind 1/4 cup chana dal and make a slurry with about 1/4 cup of water
Step 2: routine South Indian tampering or tadka – heat 1-2 tbsp of oil, add 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds, once they start sputtering add 1/2 tsp each of cumin seeds and turmeric, add a pinch of asafetida, 2-4 curry leaves and 1-2 dried red chilies. Add 1 tbsp of ginger and 1 tbsp of garlic and roast for 30 sec or so.
Step 3: add 2-3 peeled and chopped (into inch cubes) potatoes and salt. Cover potatoes with water and boil for 10 minutes till potatoes are cooked
Step 4: add chana dal slurry and boil for 5-10 minutes. Remove off heat. Adjust salt, squeeze a lemon to taste and garnish with cilantro and roasted cashews.
This one is easy. Knife work involves peeling and chopping the potatoes and ginger and garlic and cilantro (about 10 min). Other prep work is the chana dal powder (5 minutes). Cooking time is around 20-30 minutes but with minimal involvement after the tadka. Yep- a good week-night meal. 
This is one of my simplest weekday meals. Prep work consists of smashing 2-3 cloves of garlic. It is delicious every time – top it with cheese, sausage, veggies, fried egg – it’s a very comforting dinner when you’ve had an extremely annoying day at work.
Grits: I use Alton’s foolproof recipe. Boil 2 cups of water and 2 cups of whole milk. Add one cup of grits (stone ground is best) and 2-3 crushed whole garlic cloves while whisking continuously. Simmer on low heat for 20 minutes while whisking every 4-5 minutes especially in the corners. Add salt and 4 tbsp of butter.
Blistered haricot beans and corn: heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil toll smoking. Add frozen beans and corn- cover for 5 minutes. Once blistered, add lots of pepper and 1 tbsp of butter.
Add veggies to beans and top with some gochugaru pepper or not 🙂
I love pot pie or rather I love the concept of pot pie, the actual pot pie often disappoints . The base of the crust base is often soggy and a little under baked.
My solution is to bake the crust separately. Here I used store bought puff pastry (all butter) and baked according to the instructions.
I make a lot of different potpie fillings, some are traditional (mostly bechamel based) and others like this malai paneer one are curry based. I used cranberries in place of my regular raisins today and I use less cream to make the sauce thicker.
Assemble just before serving, the pastry is crisp and buttery and the filling is creamy and full of veggies. A perfect Christmas lunch.
I hated cooked carrots while growing up, they were mushy and soggy and tasteless. These carrots are jammy, slightly charred and sweet and very addictive. I first saw the carrot- coriander combination in a purple carrot recipe and I’ve cooked these once a week since then
4 carrots- peeled and chopped into equal pieces
1-2 tbsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp coriander powder
Toss together, roast at 400 F for 20-25 minutes
Recipe is 9 year old approved!
If Yotam says asparagus goes with capers and almonds, who am I to disagree.
Trim and asparagus tossed with olive oil, salt and peper at 425 for 5-10 minutes.
Fry 1/4 c slivered blanched almonds in 2 tbsp butter, fry 3 tbsp capers in 1 tbsp butter. Add to asparagus along with butter
Add dill (or not- I didn’t)
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019264-roasted-asparagus-with-buttered-almonds-capers-and-dill
Delhi Girl Meets Food 