Kidney beans / Rajma served in Romaine hearts

Fancy presentation gives this simple dish an interesting twist and will have everyone asking for more!

Ingredients:

Kidney beans - 1 cup (cooked)
Onions - chopped finely
Ginger - 1 tsp - grated
Garlic - 3 or 4 pods - grated
Turmeric powder
Chilli powder
Coriander powder
Salt
Coriander leaves - finely chopped for garnish
Juice of 1 Lemon

Romaine hearts - washed and dried to remove excess moisture.

How to:

Heat a pan, add oil. Add onions, garlic, ginger and fry till the raw smell goes away. Add turmeric, chilli powder, coriander powder and salt and fry well. Add cooked Rajma and mix well and let it all come together. Squeeze juice of a lemon and garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Let it cool a bit.

Scoop some rajma onto a romaine heart and serve with yogurt on the side. Yummy lunch!

Broccoli fry - Indian style

Broccoli is a very healthy vegetable. I bake it with cheese and salt and pepper. But I like the spicy Indian version the best.

Ingredients:

Broccoli
Onions
Red chillies
Mustard seeds
Cumin seeds
Urad dal
Turmeric
Chilli powder
Salt
Oil

How to:

Heat a pan, add oil. Once that warms up, add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add Cumin seeds, Urad dal and Red chillies. After they turn light brown, add chopped onions and fry for 5 minutes. Add chopped Broccoli florets, salt and add few tbs of water, mix well and close and cook. Stir often so that Broccoli does not brown. I don't like to add more water and make it little mushy. I steam it with little water and make it dry and slightly brown. End result is yummy!

Caramelized Pears

I like to caramelize apples, pears, figs with butter and little brown sugar and honey. Add a little vanilla ice cream and there is the best dessert!

Heat a pan, melt some butter, add sugar and honey and whisk to mix. Place the cut side of the Pears down and let it cook and caramelize on medium low flame. Once done, serve them warm with some ice cream. Go ahead and drizzle some more honey or chocolate syrup. Indulge!

Zucchini boats with Kale chips

Zucchini boats are a fun way to eat veggies, especially if you have a fussy eater. It is simple, easy to make and delicious. I have tried various stuffing for the boats. You can get creative too. This is one of my versions:

Ingredients:

Zucchini - 2
Onion
Bell pepper
Lima beans - cooked. I soaked them overnight and steamed them.
Tomatoes
Cheese
Salt
Chilli powder/paprika/Pepper
Oil


How to:

Wash and trim the ends if the Zucchini and cut them into half lengthwise. Carefully, scrape out the flesh with a  spoon or fork. Make sure you leave little flesh and not to make any cuts or holes. Set this scraped zucchini aside.

Heat a pan, add oil or butter and saute chopped onions until light brown. Add tomatoes and fry. Add in the chopped bell peppers, reserved zucchini flesh, salt, chilli powder/pepper. Once this comes together, add lima beans and let it cook for few minutes until most of the moisture is evaporated. You could add cilantro. Adjust the spices according to your preferences.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Sprinkle salt on the Zucchini boats and bake it in the oven for 7 to 10 minutes. You will see some mositure come out. Handle the boats carefully and drain out the water. Now fill the stuffing in the zucchini boats base. Top with grated cheese. Bake in the Oven at 400F for 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Bread crumbs could be used as a topping as well.

Enjoy!

Variations in the stuffing: Black beans, kidney beans or any kind of beans. Or just vegetables. I guess even fish or meat could be used as a stuffing too.


Kale chips:

Some of us like to eat greens. I think anything crunchy appeals to many, especially kids. Kale chips are easy to make and of course very healthy.

Wash the Kale thoroughly. Cut the leaves part into 3 or 4 inch pieces. Leave the bottom part of the stem as it is thick. Spread them on a towel to remove most of the water. Line a baking sheet, spray with olive oil. Put the kale leaves and add salt and pepper and little more oil and mix well. Bake in the oven at 350F for about 12 to 15 minutes until they become crunchy.