Colour me Coffee

I personally really love DIY projects. Lets be honest, I am kind of crap with crafty things. But, I recently saw something on TV where someone was making a beautiful display case with coffee stirrers. This looked SO easy and pretty that I just had to try it out for myself!

This is what i ended up with... Pretty huh? :) It is now happily sitting on my IKEA ledge. Next to a picture of my former pet cat Ozzy looking adorable as hell in his Santa hat. That is his Santa Claws picture.

Ok, looks like you now have an insight into my 'crazy cat lady' persona. Lets avoid eye contact for a while and move on, shall we?

You need: 
Coffee Stirrers
Shadow box frame
Chart paper or any other sturdy paper
Liquid Glue
Acrylic colour set
Paint brushes

I started off with *ahem* borrowing some wooden stirrers from Starbucks. About 15 sticks should do fine.

Measure the width of the shadow box frame you are using. I used IKEA's Ribba Frame, measuring about 9 cm in width. Be sure to measure only the glassed area and no the entire wooden borders. Cut the stirrers to the appropriate length. Now, pick a few beautiful acrylic colours. Go crazy here.. mix up a few colours to create new shades. Let your inner artist shine through :D Paint one side of the stirrers with colours of your choice.

Once you have painted the stirrers, lay them out to to dry. Be sure to line your work area with newspapers so that you don't spill on paint on any furniture. I learnt this the hard way.

Now, find a sturdy surface onto which you are going to paste the coloured sticks. You can use the backing of the frame or use of piece of chart paper or the backside of an old photograph that is sure to fit the frame or a magazine cover. Any slightly sturdy sheet of paper will do. Cut the paper to fit the length and width of the glassed area of the shadow box.

Finally, time to glue everything together. I used Elmer's clear glue and applied it to the unpainted side of the sticks with a thin paintbrush. Keep pasting the sticks to the sturdy paper as and when you apply the glue so that the it doesn't try out. Mix and match the colours to create a fun effect.

Finally, put the paper with sticks into the shadow box. Choose a lovely well lit place to display. It makes for a lovely conversation piece and leaves you feeling extremely creative with little effort!

The Best Vegetarian Chili

I have never been a meat-eater.

By meat, I mean seafood and poultry as well .This is of course by virtue of being raised in a Tam-Brahm family. But that reasoning only holds good for a few years, if we are all being truly honest. At some point, every young vegetarian comes to a crossroad in their life where they consciously or sub-consciously decide to go or not go to the dark side :D To paraphrase the Bard himself, "To eat, or not to eat: that is the question". Or something like that.

For me, I have had several such opportunities when I was in college but something held me back. I cant explain or put a finger on it but I sub-consciously made that decision in my teens and it has stuck so far. For a lot of people, it is more straightforward than that, more of a conscious decision. If you ask Arvind, he insists that he will violently throw up of he eats meat. And he says this right in front of other meat eaters, which I find terribly rude but, hey, that's my dear husband for you!

I never questioned my decision to go meatless for the most part but there were a few times when I just wondered 'what if...'! The first was when I was working in good old Chennai. A colleague and good friend of mine used to bring mushroom masala to work. I never had really eaten mushrooms before so this was all new to me. Man, I just went nuts over it. The juicy, supple texture of the mushroom... that delicious chewyness, the spicy masala... I was in foodie heaven. My colleague was convinced that I would just love poultry and really tried to talk me into it! It makes me laugh to just think about it. Good times!

Anyway, here I am trying to make a hardcore non-vegetarian dish into a meatless meal. I believe Chili is traditionally made up of ground beef and sometimes ground turkey, the only veggies being onions and garlic. But if you ask me, you cant go wrong with beans and a whole bunch of veggies for some some real good flavour!

Look at that! Isn't that just gorgeous! Mmmmm veggies =P~

The Best Vegetarian Chili

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked black beans
1 cup cooked kidney beans
1 onion - chopped
4 pods of garlic - finely chopped
1 tomato - chopped
2 jalapeno - seeded and chopped
1 carrot - peeled and chopped
1/2 zucchini - peeled and chopped
1 cup mixed peppers (red, green, orange and yellow) - seeded and chopped
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels - thawed out
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup water or vegetable broth
A bit of Mexican blend shredded cheese
salt to taste
crushed black pepper to taste
1 tbsp olive oil

This recipe serves 2

1. Heat olive oil in a pan and saute the onions and garlic for 3-4 minutes, until soft and fragrant. Add the chopped tomato, jalapeno, carrot, zucchini, corn and mixed peppers. Add some salt to the veggies. Saute until slightly cooked, for about 5-7 minutes. 
2. While the veggies are cooking, mix the black beans and kidney beans in a large bowl. Add a little water to them and mash them slightly with a potato masher. This helps the chili get a nice ooey-gooey texture which I love.
3. Once the veggies are cooked, throw in the slightly mashed beans. Add the cumin powder, coriander powder, oregano, red pepper flakes, crushed black pepper and mix well. Adjust the seasoning as needed. Add in the water or vegetable and simmer for about 15 minutes with the lid on, stirring occasionally. Adjust the water/broth as well depending your preferred consistency. 
4. Remove the lid and give this a taste. Adjust the salt  and other seasoning as needed. Simmer for another 5 minutes stirring occasionally.

Serve hot with shredded cheese and a side of corn bread. Enjoy the BEST vegetarian chili :)

Summer Corn Soup

I know this says 'Summer' soup but really soup is a great idea in any weather. I love a hearty veggie-loaded soup or chili in the winter or fall and a light,easy, brothy soup in the warmer months. It almost always is a one-pot meal. It is easy to make and doesn't make me feel bad about not having a food processor!!

It always bothers me when I watch these shows on The Food Network where fancy chefs whip out all sorts of food gadgets leaving me supremely annoyed at having what appears to be an inadequate kitchen. But I have to admit that pushes me to recreate dishes with what I have in hand, including ingredients, and this is yet to go wrong. Every time they use food processors to make sauces or pesto, I woefully glance at my trusty Preethi Blue Leaf and tell myself that it makes no difference. Preethi Blue Leaf can boldly go where any food processor has been and kick it. Yes, the lid of the bigger jar might be a tad too big. You might get the very hot chutney all over you when you try to pry it open. The smaller jar might ooze chutney juice all over itself and your hands when grinding. Gross. The juicer might be an utter disaster. But darn it, it can blend. I have used my trusty (and crusty, sadly) Preethi Blue Leaf to make everything from salad dressing to pesto to onion chutney and I am proud it. If only I could figure out how to make it not-so-oozy-juicy!

Anyway, back to where we were. Soup makes me happy. There is something about eat-drinking a bowl of hearty home made soup that makes me at peace with the world. Specially if it doesn't require a 'slow cooker' and takes me all of 15 minutes to make it!

Summer Corn Soup

Ingredients: 
1 cup frozen corn kernel -  thawed
1/2 red onion - chopped
2 pods garlic - chopped
1 juicy tomato - chopped
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp chopped basil
1 1/2 tbsp EVOO
1 cup water or vegetable broth
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

This recipe serves 1

1. Heat 1 tbsp EVOO in a pan. Saute the onions and garlic till transparent, about 5 minutes. Add in the thawed corn, salt, pepper, oregano and saute for another 5 minutes. Add the water or broth and simmer for about 2 minutes.
2. Transfer the onion-corn-broth/water mixture to a blender and blend  until it is relatively smooth. This is usually good when the soup is chunky with a bit of corn to chew. Set aside.
3. Heat the remaining 1/2 tbsp EVOO in a pan and add the chopped tomato. Saute for about 5 minutes till the tomato cooks. Add the basil and saute till basil wilts. 
4. Pour the blended mixture into this and stir until well combined. Adjust the salt and pepper as needed.

Serve hot, topped with crushed tortilla chips and enjoy!

Avocado and Veggies "Grilled Cheese" Sandwich

Friday mornings are usually very lazy for me.

Fridays are almost weekends in my book and I sure am not the only one who feels this way.. am I?

Usually, I cook every morning and send A off with some lunch but every Friday morning, I ask him if he wants to carry lunch. Surely, this is me manipulating him, but don't ever tell him I said so!! :-) Friday is no different from any other working day and there is no reason for him to not want lunch, but just me planting the idea is good enough. The rest pretty much takes care of itself.

Come 09:030 am, off A goes, no lunch in hand, dreaming of Dosas and Thali meals, leaving me dreaming about my new blog post with a fun lunch-for-one.

A is always very enthusiastic about eating anything new I make, bless him, but sometimes it is honestly just more fun to cook for myself. Just the thought makes me feel so free. I can use whatever ingredients I want, experiment with all sorts of weird combinations and pretty much make as big a mess without really, really, worrying about how it might taste.

This was one such experiments that ended up truly lovely. I have recently started thinking about cooking with avocado but using it in Indian cuisine is a challenge. I know some people make chutneys with it, but, lets just say - no thanks. My recent trip to Costco left me with about 5 avocados and the thrill of figuring out what to do with them. I had read in many articles that the creamy texture of avocado lends itself beautifully as a replacement for mayonnaise and I decided to make myself a grilled "cheese" sandwich.

I used brown bread with the avocado spread, cheddar cheese, lettuce, onions and tomatoes but you can use whatever cheese and veggies you want. If you have more time on your hands you can certainly use roasted eggplant or zucchini.

It was the best 10-minute lunch I had ever eaten.

Avocado and Veggies "Grilled Cheese" Sandwich

Ingredients
2 slices whole-wheat bread
1 avocado
2 leaves of butter lettuce/ romaine/ iceberg
4 slices of tomato
4 slices of onion
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Few drops of lime juice
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Few drops of Olive Oil

This recipe serves 1

1. Toast the two slices of bread on a dry skillet just to warm it up a bit. Set aside.
2. Cut open the avocado, get rid of the seed and scoop out the flesh. Mash the flesh well till it's spreadable and a bit lumpy. Mix in some lime juice, red pepper flakes for some heat, salt and pepper. Don't let it sit aside for too long as the avocado tends to darken with time. 
3. Spread generously over the toasted slices. Top with the shredded cheese, lettuce and your choice of veggies. Bring the slices together and apply a little pressure until they all stay in place.
4. Brush some olive oil on the two ends of the sandwich and toast over a hot skillet until brown on both sides. This causes the cheese to melt and gives us some gooey goodness.

Serve with ketchup if you like. Personally, it tastes brilliant as is!