Around The World On Your Plate

Total time:  20 minutes Servings: 4-6 Ingredients: 1-1/2 cup mix vegetables like carrots, bell pepper, sweet corn 4 cups vegetable stock 1/4 cup green peas 2 scallions chopped (whites and greens separated) 1 teaspoon ginger and garlic minced 2 tablespoon of sweet corn paste (optional) 1 tablespoon oil Salt and pepper to taste Method: Heat oil and saute scallions (green) along with ginger and garlic for a minute.  Next add in all the vegetables and saute for a minute.  Add 4 cups of vegetable stock or water and bring it to a boil. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. To thicken the soup you can either add some cornflour mixed with water or 2-3 tablespoons of sweet corn pureed to paste. Garnish with scallions (green) and serve hot.

Serves: 2-3 Preparation time:  15 min Soaking time:  30 minutes Ingredients: 1 cup Basmati rice (washed and soaked for 30 minutes) 1 medium onion sliced lengthwise 1/2 teaspoon ginger and garlic paste 2-3 green chilies, slit 1 tablespoon of oil A pinch of saffron dissolved in 3 tablespoons of milk 1 teaspoon clarified butter (optional) Salt and sugar to taste Cilantro and mint to garnish Cashew and raisins to garnish Spices: 2-3 Cloves 2 green cardamom 2 bay leaf 1" cinnamon stick 1 teaspoon Shahjeera Method: Wash and soak Basmati rice in cold water for 30 minutes. Heat oil and add whole spices with slit green chilies and stir fry for 30 seconds or until aroma wafts from the pan. Next add onion and ginger and garlic paste and saute  until onions turn translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes.  Add rice and water along with salt and sugar and cover and cook until done on medium heat.    Meanwhile, r oast cashew and raisins in clarifie

Channa Ros - White Peas Coconut Gravy Ingredients: 2 medium potatos cubed 2 cups of vatana or white peas (soaked overnight) 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder salt to taste 1 teaspoon of tamarind paste 1 medium onion chopped and divided 2 tablespoon of oil divided Cilantro to garnish Masala: 2 teaspoon of coriander seeds/dhania seeds (can use powder) 4 cloves 8 pepper corns 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds 1 inch piece of cinnamon stick 1 teaspoon of poppy seeds 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds 4-5 dry red chillies or to taste 1/2 cup grated coconut or coconut milk Method: Soak the peas overnight and cook along with potato until tender but do not overcook. In a separate pan, roast all the dry spices until aroma wafts from the pan.  Set aside to cool and heat 1 teaspoon of oil and saute half of the onion.  If using fresh coconut, saute along with onion until light brown in color.  If using coconut milk, just saute onion. Set it aside to cool. In a spice blender,

Servings: 2-3 Total cooking time:  20 minutes Ingredients: 1 cup rice, washed 2 cups water 1 tablespoon of oil 1 cup of kala channa or chole channa soaked overnight 1 medium sized potato chopped 1 medium onion chopped 1 teaspoon ginger and garlic minced Salt to taste Spices: 1 teaspoon cumin seeds 1 small piece of cinnamon stick 2-3 cloves 3-4 pepper corns 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder 1 teaspoon of channa masala Method: Heat oil in a pan and saute cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, cloves and pepper corn for a minute.   Next add onions and ginger garlic paste and saute until translucent. Next add the potatoes and channa and mix everything well.  Add rice and twice the amount of water and mix.  Add the turmeric powder along with channa masala and salt to taste. Cover and cook on medium until its done.  Fluff with a fork.  Add some lemon juice and garnish with cilantro and serve hot. Notes: You can even use canned garbanzo beans for

Ingredients: 5-6 tomatillo  2 jalapenos 2 Serrano peppers 2-3 cloves of garlic 1/4 of onion 2 sprigs of cilantro Salt to taste Method: Place all the vegetables except cilantro on a grill pan or a flat pan and roast them on all sides. Once done, place them all in a zip lock bag and seal and set aside for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, place them in a blender along with salt and blend them in batches, you may notice some liquid in the zip lock bag, do not discard it, add it while blending. While blending it, do not add extra water. Once done, garnish with cilantro and serve with chips. Notes: The consistency of this salsa depends on your choice, you can leave it as chunky as you like. You can also use a mortar and pestle and grind each of it to make a paste. The amount of onion, garlic and jalapenos depends entirely on your taste.

Servings: 2 Total time:  1 hour Ingredients: 1 medium sized Spaghetti Squash 1-2 tablespoon of olive oil 1 medium sized onion chopped 1 cloves of garlic, minced 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes or to taste 1 tomato cubed 1-1/2 cups of tomato basil marinara Freshly chopped basil and parsley to garnish Salt and Pepper, to taste Method: Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Preparing the squash: Cut the squash into half and remove the seeds. Sprinkle some salt and a little oil and place it on a baking tray and pop it into a preheat oven for around 40-45 minutes or until you can easily pierce through the squash using a fork. Once done, set aside to cool. Once its cooled enough to handle, hold it in your palm and using a fork pierce into the squash and take out the shreds into a bowl. You can adjust salt and pepper to taste at this point. Preparing the Marinara: Heat oil in a pan on medium and saute onion and garlic.  Once onion turns a li

1.  When you peel ginger, use a spoon. 2.  Do not throw away the peels of vegetables, since you have already washed the vegetables thoroughly, put the peels into water along with a bay leaf and salt and boil to make an easy vegetable broth. 3.  Before you go grocery shopping, clean your fridge and pantry. 4.  Wash and dry and store the vegetables in the fridge. 5.  When storing milk that has been boiled, wait till it gets to room temperature before placing it in the fridge. 6.  Cook pasta with sufficient water for it to swim in. 7.  Always cook pasta in salted water to ensure even taste. 8.  When cooking any kind of Chinese cuisine, make sure the wok is hot and do not overcook the vegetables. 9.  When kneading a dough using yeast, always ensure that the yeast is activated before adding to the flour. 10.  When cooking a dish with pasta or noodles, cook pasta alongside your vegetables so that once the pasta or noodles are cooked, you can drain the water an

Servings: 2 Total Time: Less than 20 minutes. Ingredients: 2 ounce of spaghetti  1 tablespoon of butter 1 teaspoon of crushed garlic 1 tomato cubed Salt and pepper to taste 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes and oregano  Basil and parsley to garnish Method: Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook  spaghetti with salt. Once cooked, drain and transfer to a separate bowl. Along side, in a pan, heat butter and saute garlic until light brown.  Next add tomatoes and crushed red pepper flakes and oregano along with salt and pepper and saute until tomatoes are tender. Once the tomatoes are cooked, add in the spaghetti and mix well. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with parsley and basil and serve hot.