My Cooking Notebook

Over the years, I have discovered my own style of cooking based on herbs and vegetables, and am told that it is delicious as well as nutritious.

I often find that my friends and colleagues would like to cook healthy and nurtitious food without using meat or fish, but are uncertain as to how to do so, and are worried about things like whether vegetarian cooking can provide them with sufficient protein.

This notebook will set out my basic understanding of cooking and in particular the use of herbs and spices, both to make vegetarian food pleasantly tasty and also to maintain a well-balanced and healthy diet.

Cauilflower with Tomatoes

Cauliflower and tomatoes, with basmati rice and a moong dal

3 tablesoppons of oil
a pinch of asafoetida
1 cauliflower, cut into small florets
2-inch piece of ginger,finely chopped
Salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon chilli powder
3 large ripe tomatoes, mashed
A handful of fresh coriander leaves


Heat the oil in a large pan and when it begins to smoke, add the asafoetida and cauliflower and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat and add ginger, salt and sugar and mix well. Cover the pan and allow the cauliflower to cook for about 5 minutes. Move the cauliflower to the sides of the pan and add the turmeric and chilli powders and stir well. Continue cooking for a few more minutes and add the chopped tomatoes. Try to keep the cauliflower crisp. Serve garnished with coriander

Venky's Morning Poha

a. Thick flakes of poha - 2 cups

b. Veggies - all optional & in any combination - peas, potato, french

beans, capsicum, tomato, broccoli, etc. finely chopped

c. One tablespoon veg oil

d. for seasoning - mustard seeds (rai), urad dal, cashew nut pieces

(optional), turmeric powder, green chillies, ginger finely chopped

e. salt to taste

f. for garnishing - coconut flakes, coriander finely chopped

g. lemon juice for taste

1. Soak the poha in water, drain it after 30 seconds and keep it aside

2. Heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, add turmeric powder, the dal and

cashew, when slightly brown, add chilly and ginger

3. Add the veggies and when cooked 90 percent, add the poha, salt and

mix it well, and keep it covered over low heat for two minutes

4. Add the garnishing and mix well.

5. Remove from the heat, add the lime juice and mix well.

Venky and me

My Moong Dal - a Perennial Favourite

My basic moong dal recipe comes from a variety of sources including Madhur Jaffrey, Rafi Fernandez and The Aruyrvedic Cookbook.

1/2 cup moong dal (yellow split peas)
• 1 cup Water
• 2 tomatoes (deskinned and chopped)
• 1 onion (chopped)
• 1 2" piece of fresh ginger (chopped)
• 4 green chillies (chopped)
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 3 tbsp ghee
• Salt to taste
   Coriander leaves to garnish


• Wash dal properly and cook it in water.
• Add more water, if necessary, to prevent drying out.
• Remove the pan from the flame
• Heat the ghee in a frying pan and add jeera.
• Fry it for a minute on medium heat.
• Mix green chillies and ginger. Fry again for about 2 minutes.
• Add onions and fry them till they turn light brown.
• Add tomatoes and fry for about 10 minutes.
• Put in the salt and coriander leaves.
• Mix well and fry for a minute.
• Mix the prepared gravy into the cooked dal.
• Cook again for 5 minutes
• Serve

A Healthy Kichadi

Kichadis are the core of Aryurvedic nutritional cooking. They are a simple stew of rice and split mung beans, suitable for every body type (dosha). They are also delicious and go very well with a more stongly spiced dish, such as cauliflowers and tomatoes.

Digestive Kichadi

1/2 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoonfuls of ghee or sunflowerseed oil
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon coriander leaves
2 teaspoon tumeric
1 teaspoon dry oregano
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 stick konbu
1 teaspoon fresh ginger root, grated
1/2 cup basmati rice
1/4 cupsplit mung beans
4-6 cups water
3 cups fresh vegetables (carrots,courgette or pumpkin) diced

Wash the rice and beans and rinse until the water is clear

Warm the ghee in a mediumsaucepan. Add the cumion seeds, bay coriander and oregano. Brown slightly until you can smell them. Stir in the turmeric,rice and dal. Add water, salt, konbu and ginger. Simmer covered until beans and rice are soft (about an hour). Wash and dice vegetables. Add them and cook until tender - about 15/20minutes more.

Garnish with fresh chopped coriander

[Adapted from The Arurvedic Cookbook]

Pumpkin Soup

My cubiscremesuppe [recipe to follow]

Cooking With Friends

Maybe the most important ingredient of all.....

Bread

Good bread is an essential. These are from Taborini and Multari in Nice

Salad

Fresh, mainly organic salad

Risotto Aux Fleurs de Courgettes

The basic recipe is as for Asparagus Risotto. Details to come

Venky's Recipes

My dear friend Venky is a consummate cook and has shown me several of his basic Indian recipes, for which I am most grateful.

Some of them appear here
Venky's Rasam
Venky's Pepper Rasam
Venky's Vegetable Sambar
Venky's Potato Podimas
Venky's Baby Potato Curry

I shall add more in time!

A Venky Dinner!

Venky's Rasam

Cook 1/4 cup mung or tuvar dal well

Add 1/4 teaspoon tamarind paste, tomatoes, two spoons chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon tumeric, salt, asfoetida, fresh coriander
Cook well

Add four cups water.

When it comes to the boil, add fried mustard seed

Venky's Potato Podimas

Boil potatoes in water until cooked.
Peel the skin and mash

Fry mustard seeds and urid dal with three red chillies in a pan

Add fresh chopped ginger and salt

Mix the mashed potatoes with this podimas

Venky's Pepper Rasam

For this soup, cook
1/4 teaspoon of tumeric powder
2 spoons black pepper powder
and salt in one glass of water.

Add fried mustard seeds and Jeera.

Add three cups of water and bring to the boil.

On boilng, the soup will be ready

Venky's Vegetable Sambar

Cook three/four cups of dal (tuvar or mung) until it becomes mashed

Take any of the following vegetables (but others are also good)

Zucchini
Broccoli
Pumpkin
Drumstick

In two cups of water cook tamarind paste (one teaspoon) along with tumeric powder (half teaspoon), sambar powder (4 teaspoons), chilli powder (3 teaspoons) and coriander powder (2 teaspoons), chopped vegetables and salt.

When the vegetables are well cooked, mix the dal with the vegetables, add dessicated coconut (4 teaspoons), mix and bring to the boil.

When boiling, add asfoetida (half teaspoon) on top. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Switch off and add fried mustard seeds and methi.

Venky's Baby Potato Curry

Fry mustard seeds with urid dal and add small pieces of fresh ginger
After three minutes add three tomatoes and make a puree. Salt

Add baby potatoes to the puree and half a glass of water

Allow to cook over a low heat until ready

Sesame Ginger Carrots

3 tablespoons of oil (or less)
Pinch of hing (asafetida) optional
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger or1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3 cups (360 g) thinly sliced carrots (slice on the diagonal)
1/4 cup (35 g) sesame seeds, salt

Melt the oil in a wok or large skillet. Add the hing and saute over low heat for 30 seconds, until fragrant.
Add the ginger and carrots and saute over low heat stirring frequently, until the carrots start to become tender.
Add the sesame seeds and a sprinkling of salt and continue sauteing, stirring constantly until carrots are tender.

Variation
Replace the carrots with green beans or snap peas.
Quinoa
1 cup of quinoa and 2 cups of water and cook for about 15 minutes.
You can put on some toasted sesame oil and a little bit of Kikkoman soya sauce and eat it with tofu or steamed vegetables etc.

Asparagus Risotto

Risottos are among my favourite dishes. They are simple and delicious; a meal in themselves. But they are not so easy to make well, and so I add mine to the many recipes which one finds in cookbooks. This is based on asparagus, but the basic recipe is the same for almost all risottos.

A bunch of green asparagus
A carrot
Some bay leaves
Some peppercorns
A vegetable stock cube
Salt is usually unnecessary as the stock cube is salty.

2 -3 pints of water
Onion
Butter
Olive oil
Arborio or caranoli rice
Parmesan cheese

Add the carrot, cut into pieces, the bay leaves, some peppercorns and the stock cube to the water in a medium-sized pan, cover and set to boil. (If you have asparagus stems already chopped up from another dish, add them as well).

Trim the asparagus by chopping off the woody stems that will never be edible however much you cook them and put them in the stockpot. Then cut off the tips and reserve them, as they will need least cooking. Put the remaining middle part of the asparagus in a sieve and cook them in the stock pot. The sieve allows you to remove them after cooking without picking all the pieces out singly. When they are cooked through, put them to keep warm in the oven. Also cook the tips for a few minutes the same way, being careful not to overcook them as they should remain al dente even after being added to rice in the final stages of the risotto

Grate sufficient parmesan cheese to half-fill the bottom of a soup bowl.

Chop the onions and fry them in olive oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan until slightly brown.

Add a cupful of rice (enough for 2/3 people) and coat well with the hot oil. Cook for three minutes, adding some butter (which will foam) and stir to avoid burning.

Add a ladleful of the stock and continue to stir the rice/onion mixture until the stock is absorbed and then continue to add the stock by the ladleful every time the rice appears to have absorbed the previous one.

Add the reserved asparagus and the tips after about twenty minutes. Add most of the parmesan and continue to stir. Continue adding the stock until the rice is cooked but not completely soft and the risotto almost runny, not solid. Add a final dob of butter to glisten the risotto and the remainder of the parmesan to taste. The cooking will have taken about twenty minutes from the time the rice went in.

Serve with lots of ground black pepper and a green salad.

NB Risottos are usually made with garlic as well as onion. However, garlic doesn't go with asparagus.

Salad d'Artichaut Cru

This simple salad is one of the signature dishes of La Petit Maison, the famous Nice restaurant. It has always been a favourite of mine as the subtle crunchiness of the chopped artichoke is perfectly matched by the rich nutty flavour of the shaved parmesan cheese.

Find a 'hand' of baby blue artichokes in the market. (Not the larger artichokes which are boiled for the stems of the leaves and the 'heart'). They are not easy to find outside French farm markets; they are rarely seen in London, for instance.

Trim off all the leaves until you reach the stem, and chop it off. Slice it roughly, being careful only to keep the edible parts.
Arrange the chopped pieces on a plate with slices of parmesan cheese and some rough grains of sea salt. A simple vinaigrette can be sprinkled over it for taste.

You can mix it with a green salad if you like (as in the photo)

Note that you can keep all the unused parts of the artichokes and boil them up in a saucepan to make stock for an asparagus risotto or a soup - or both!

A World Soup

I had some lovely green asparagus from the market in Nice which I made into a risotto, using all the tough inedible stalks in the stock (see Asparagus Risotto). After making the risotto, some of the stock remained to which I added swiss chard (blette in France and mangold in England) and whatever other vegetables I had in the kitchen, viz:

Vegetables
Asparagus
Swiss chard
Artichoke leaves
Sprouted mung beans
Carrot
Onion
Fennel

Most importantly, I added these herbs and spices

Garam masala
Tumeric
Cummin
Ginger
Bay leaf
Garlic
Oregano
Coriander leaves
Parsley

and while cooking, some oatmeal or quinoa (for body)