T for Tabouleh!

Another morning and I was staring at my pantry wondering what salad can I dish out for B. B's in a salad mood and would eat anything in the form of a salad. My eyes fell on the cous cous packet and I decided to relent to that urge to cook middle eastern..
Voila! quick and easy tabouleh salad

Ingredients
1. Cous cous - 1 cup
2. Cilantro - 1 small bunch
3. Lime/Lemon juice - 5 tbsp
4. Salt to taste
5. Black olives - 5 to 6 nos
6. Feta cheese - 3 tbsp
7. Olive oil - 5 tbsp
8. Mint leaves - 5 to 6 leaves
9. tomato - 1 finely chopped
10. Onions (optional) - half finely chopped
11.

Method de preparation:
1. Microwave cous cous in a bowl with half a cup of water for 3 mins. At about 1.5 min, add some butter and fluff the mix and let it cook through the remaining time. Cous cous cooks pretty quickly. Fluff it with a fork after taking out of the microwave.
2. To the cooked cous cous, add the finely chopped tomato and onions(optional) and fluff it again
3. Add the chopped cilantro and mint leaves. Savor the beautiful flavor that emanates :).
4. Add chopped black olives and a fistful of feta cheese to this mix. Fluff it again
5. Add the olive oil, salt to taste. Once the mix cools down, add the lemon/lime juice.
6. Refrigerate and serve chilled or serve at room temperature.

Again with this recipe too, you can choose to add crushed garlic. To make it a little spicy, add a tsp of chilli powder..

Bon App!

H for Hummus

I finally did it! I've been wanting to try my hand at Middle Eastern cooking and last Saturday and this morning, I did it!
There are definitely umpteen recipes available for Hummus, but I thought I'll share mine too and inspire many other novice cooks like me.
Hummus is a traditional middle eastern dish made from just chick peas. Here is how I went about it
Ingredients
1. Chick peas - 1 tin
2. Olive oil - half a cup
3. Mint - (optional) 2-3 leaves
4. Tabouleh sauce - 1 tbsp
5. Lime/Lemon juice - 4 to 5 tbsp
6. Salt to taste
7. Chilli powder - 1 tsp
8. Cilantro - 4 to 5 leaves

Method de Preparation:
1. Soak chick peas overnight. Drain out the water. If your are using a canned one, just wash the chick peas well in running water
2. Take the chick peas in a blender, add olive oil (you can choose to be generous or stingy), some salt to taste, tabouleh sauce, mint leaves and blend into a smooth paste.
3. Transfer into a bowl and add the lemon/lime juice and mix well.
4. If you like spicy hummus, then add a tsp of chilli powder and mix well
5. Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve
Now some people prefer the garlic taste in hummus. If you wish to use garlic, sautee the garlic in olive oil and add it to the blender. I prefer my hummus without the garlic :)
Hummus can be enjoyed with crackers, pita chips, pita bread or even just carrots!
Bon App!

Green Rice

My friend has recently gotten into the blogging world. I drew inspiration from one of her recipes of Kothmira Rice. I had a lot of beans staring at me in my fridge. I put them together and had my greens for the day!

Ingredients:
1. Spinach - 1 bunch
2. Rice - 1.5 cups
3. Corriander - a handful
4. Ginger - 1 small piece
5. Green Chillis - 2 nos (to taste)
6. Beans - 1.5 cups
7. Tomato Paste - 2 tbsp (you can use 1 tomato too.I had only paste)
8. Onion - 1 piece
9. Cashews - handful
10. Cloves, Bay Leaves, Anise - as needed

Method de Prep:
1. Wash spinach bunch and boil in a pot of water. Chop and keep the onions, green chillis and ginger
2. Wash and cook rice in a rice cooker/pressure cooker. Ensure that the grains are separate. You can use basmati rice too if you wish
3. Chop beans and cook till soft. You can cook either in pressure cooker (1 whistle) or in microwave
4. Once spinach is cooked, grind it with corriander, green chillis and ginger
5. Heat a little oil in a pan. Add a pinch of asafoetida(optional), cloves, bay leaves and anise. Fry a little
6. Add cashews and the chopped onions and fry till brown
7. Add the cooked beans to turn around a coupla times. Make sure that the beans don't mash.
8. Once the flavor of the condiments arises, add the pulp from the mixer. Let it boil for couple of mins.
9. Add the cooked rice and turn it couple of times. Again, ensure that the rice doesn't squish together. Add salt to taste.

Enjoy! Bon App