Quick Food Fix: Shishito Peppers

On the last evening of the long weekend after a busy and yet super fun weekend, we are all ready to recharge the batteries and be ready for what lies ahead.

I decided to end it on a simple yet powerful foodie night!
Kids enjoyed some Hash Browns (one smothered with onions, and the other peppered and seasoned) .I continue to succeed  struggle in the No Potato for a year challenge, but I wanted something fun and easy to cook.

Long behold in the my fridge lied an unused bag of Shishito peppers which my husband had picked up in hoped of us eating.
Well tonight was the night.

I looked up a recipe, surprisingly super easy, as always modified it to fit my needs and then cooked and ate it with earnest. Including my recently turned 11 year old kiddo.

Process: 
1. Wash the peppers (About 10-12) in water.
2. Poke a hole in each pepper. Mainly So when you grill/ char it, it doesn't splutter
3. Heat 2 tsp olive/ vegetable oil in a skillet. I used an aluminium ones, when i researched the recipe, the common theme was DO NOT use non-stick, so I didn't.
4. When the oil is hot (you can test by adding a drop of water, it should splutter), add the peppers
5. Turn every 30- 45 seconds until the "charred" effect comes in. Please note: Charred, not burnt!
6. Take it off the skillet on a plate and garnish with sesame seeds and Rock Salt.

Eat and enjoy!

How was your long weekend?

Hosting a Vegetarian BBQ Party

Summer has ended, luckily for us in Chicago, the weather is still awesome. And that’s not something that we say often! This summer, we grilled and grilled a lot! With time I learned that hosting a BBQ party is very different from regular ones!

Here are a few tips that helped us host grilling evenings at a frequency of two per week :-)

Be safe: Ensure to instruct the kids to be away from the grill when you are cooking. We generally keep some games (Ring toss/ bean bag throw/ water guns) at the other end of the deck. It keeps them entertained and I am not stressed.

Imagine a triangle. Grill being on one corner, the kids activities on the other and the drinks on the third corner. This layout helps keep the party flowing well, kids away from hot grills and drinks cooler!

Planning:

Menu: Have a broad idea of what you are grilling. Raid the produce section and be well stocked! For a vegetarian grilling event, have 2 mains which are heavy and then a lot of accompaniments to go along with it.

Food Prep & Cooking:

- Appliances: Apron, Gloves, Grill cooking utensils, grill mats and foil! Be always safe and these are one time expenses and totally worth it!

- In our house, I prep/ marinate and Sumit grills. Admist the coversations and relaxing, he tends to forgets that food is still on the grill and then I jump into the rescue (You see how I slid that in)

- One thing I recommend is 1-2 things at a time! Start with the lighter items, one at a time and then progress. I have realised with time, though you may have 6-8 items ready to be grilled, your party will always be more relaxed on the deck!So just taking is slow and cooking 1-2 things at a time is highly recommended. This way everyone including you gets to enjoy the weather, the conversations and the food!

- We grill in a 'sequence' defined by increasing order of flavours and cooking time. Implying things that grill quickly go first! Simple reason, at the onset you are hungrier and food should come in quickly, as the evening progresses you and your friends would enjoy the breaks in food!

Drinks:

I highly recommend a main cool drink, be it sangria, a punch, jal jeera. It just makes me feel nice to pour cold jal jeera then opening a can of La Croix, I am just saying!

Keep a mini cooler/ Ice box ready and stocked with the group favorites. Have a variety of cans/ bottles ready for serving!

I have learned over time and now attached a bottle opener to my cooler, this way I am not scrambling for this essential item

Water: I prefer just having jars/ reusable bottles ready with water and ice! We as a family have been trying to avoid plastic bottles and considering we host a lot of friends over BBQ, having the reusable bottles is ideal (and cheaper!)

Condiments:

I have a tray ready with my essentials: Salt, Pepper, Chilli Flakes, Lemon Wedges, Hot Sauce, Ketchup, Chaat Masala etc. and definitely a knife!

Of course there are edits to these based on the menu for the evening.

Serve Ware:

- Food Prep: If you use skewers, pre-soak. i generally avoid them. I use  glass containers for the marinated vegetables and then use the same ones for serving after grilling. (Read less clean up time for Sumit!)

- If your space allows a a table where you keep the marinated food and then eventually the grilled food. I line up the marinated food in the order that Sumit will grill (Read FIFO- First in First out), makes it so much easier

- Have ample serving spoons, forks etc handy... you do go through them very quickly!

- Keep paper plates, bowls, napkins, flatware ready. I highly recommend using the paper dishes, since you will be grilling a variety of things and walking and chatting around! (Read less clean up time for Sumit!)

- Thrash Can: A MUST. keep it lined, empty and ready to go. If you recycle (which you must), keep a double bagged paper bag ready!

(Read less clean up time for Sumit!)

Pot Luck/ Grilling:

- Most of my grilling gatherings have been with dear friends over and I enjoy the cooking process, so I tell them, please come and enjoy!

But if you are hosting a larger party, keep it simple for yourself as well. A salad, a dessert, some drinks are perfect and simple requests for your guests to bring along!

Menu Ideas:

- Always keep a cold appetizer/ fruits ready for the evening: Simple things like a tossed salad, chopped watermelon helps. You can be fancy and have fruit skewers ready, but trust me if you grilled as often as we did, you want a simple repeatable model

- Finger foods like chips, salsa, pretzels etc should be served but in smaller portions, you would rather have the guests fill up on grilled gorgeousness!

- Marination: If you want marinate the night before it helps with the flavour in the vegetables/tofu/paneer what ever you are planning on. If your evening is more impromptu, fret not, increase the qty of herbs and spices in the marination by a little and even 30 minutes of marination is enough.

- Grilled vegetables with cold dips is always a hit: Think Grilled asparagus with a creamy pesto dip, delish!

- Think concoctions, you have 10 beans and 1/2 pepper lying around, slice them up marinate in olive oil, salt and pepper! Tada... Gril and then serve with crubled goat cheese (Ready!)

- For kids, encourage them to try everything coming off the grill, they will enjoy the 'not sit down and eat' type of meals. In addition, if you have more kids may be have a main like Mac N Cheese or something as a back up is a great idea!

- Trust me when I say this, a cold pasta salad is a hit with the kids and more with the adults!!!!

So have fun, enjoy the process and remember: Grilling parties are fun, simple, can be impromptu and you tend to eat a lot more...

Quick Food Fix: Grilled Zuchini Boats

As we improvise our vegetarian BBQ recipes, we have discovered our new favorites like 'Grilled Edmame; Crusted Tofu, Tangy potato' and as we explore new recipes like today's Zuchini Boats..... the one main BBQ item that has been dropping off our menu is the Vegetarian Burger.

Imagine a BBQ with no burger and you are still full!
To be honest, a Trader Joe's masala burger is a staple in my house, I love it! This is the one frozen ready made food that i actually keep stocked for those days when I just want to do nothing with cooking and still eat at home.

When we started with grilling, we will make a few variations and then stick to the tried and tested Vegetable Burger as a main... however in the past 6 weeks of grilling (We grill at least twice a week), I have made the vegetable burgers only once!

So our BBQ sessions are interesting for sure even sans the burger! Here is the new 'concoction' Grilled Zuchini Boats!

Serves 6-8 adults as a side

Ingredients:
Zuchini (But of course): 3-4 medium length

Stuffing:
Corn (husked from the cob): 1 or frozen corn 1 cup
Note... its summer, enjoy the fresh husked corn, the frozen ones can be used in winter!
Onion: Medium: Finely chopped
Pepper: 1 medium: Finely chopped
Seranno Pepper: Per taste, finely chopped
Pesto Sauce : 3 tsp
Spices:
Per taste: Salt, Pepper, Chilli Flakes

Toppings
Goat Cheese: crumbled 1/2 cup
Shredded Cheddar Cheese: 1/4 cup
Basil: Finely chopped: 1/4 cup



Process:
1. Wash the zuchini and Slice it in the middle length wise
2. Core the centre and save the pulp

3. Stuffing: Mix all the ingredients along with the zuchini pulp and the spices
4. When the grill is hot, on the grill mats place the stuffing for 3-5 minutes and toss once or twice.
5. While the stuffing is getting cooked, place the sliced and cored zuchini on the mat as well.
5. When the stuffing is ready, : Stuff the stuffing (no pun intended) on the zuccini boats and and top with the cheese mix

6. Grill the stuffed boat for another 2-3 minutes and tada!!! Ready, the finely chopped basil helps to elevate the look

Enjoy as a warm accompaniment on your grilling evening.
And yes vegetarian grilling/ BBQ parties are a thing! We are living proof.

Quick Food Fix: Paneer Tikka Masala

Another grill edition and definitely a super hit with Indians and even my local American friends.
I used home made Paneer for this round, but you can use store brought one like I have done for the past 14ish years!

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1. Bell Pepper 1 Medium: Quartered in chunky pieces
2. Yellow Onion 1 Medium: Quartered in chunky pieces
3. Paneer: Quartered (You can adjust the amount of paneer based on your taste, I say, more then merrier)
4. Tomato 1 Medium: Quartered in chunky pieces
5. Ginger: 1 tsp grated
6. Garlic: 2 cloves grated
7. Yogurt: 3/4 cup

Herbs & Spices
1. Paneer Tikka masala (Easily available in Indian Store/ Whole Foods): 2 tsp
2. Seeka hua Jeera: 1/2 tsp
3. Red Chillo Powder: 1/2 tsp
4. Sookha Pudina: 1/2 tsp
5. Rock Salt: 1/2 tsp
6. Salt & Pepper: Per taste

Garnish:
1. Chopped Cilantro: 1/2 cup
2. Squeezed Lemon Juice: Per Taste
3. Chaat Masala: Per Taste

Process:
1. In a mixing bowl, mix the yogurt with all the spices and ginger, garlic
2. Once all is mixed, add Onion, Bell pepper and Paneer (Not the tomato)
3. Mix well and ensure everything is coated well
4. Now add the tomato and toss lightly
5. Marinate for at least 30 minutes in the fridge

Note: If you leave the marination overnight, skip adding the tomato's since tomato releases the water, it will make the marinate 'thinner'

To Cook:
On Grill: (Perfect for summer) Save some of the marination, and layer the tikka on the grill mats. Cook for 4-8 minutes and ensure to flip the vegetables and paneer to cook evenly

Alternatively: You could add them to presoaked skewers, I generally forego this step since it adds more prep time and for gobbling them down, have to take them off the skewers anyways.

In Oven: (Perfect in winters)On a slightly oiled foil/ oven dish add the paneer tikka and cook at 375 F for about 20 minutes

On Stove Top: (Least Recommended)Add 1 tsp of olive oil in the pan and then add vegetables and Paneer, Let it cook for 5-10 minutes on medium flame. Please note in this method, the vegetables tend to get softer and the paneer will not have the 'crunchy exterior'

Garnish with the toppings and any leftover marinated yogurt and enjoy!

Home Made Paneer, Yes Please!

With young kids in a vegetarian house hold, Paneer (Think of it like a dense cottage cheese)very easily becomes favorite. Its' high in protein and calcium, very easy to cook and above all the kids will eat it in any form possible. And vegetarian or not, Paneer is one of the easiest to cook with after potatoes of course.

Over one of our countless BBQ sessions, a friend mentioned that she makes the paneer at home and its super easy. I was laughing and had the 'No way in hell' look and she said trust me. And I did trust her, noted her process down and then and I attempted it we had amazing home made fresh paneer with a simple-process.

Process in Instant Pot (Adapted from my friend’s recipe)

1. In IP: Yogurt-Boil Mode, boil 1/2 gallon of whole milk (Whole milk will yield more paneer!)

2. When milk is boiled, in a cup mix 1/4 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup water. Add it to the milk

3. The milk separates from the whey. Stir a little more. You can save the whey for other uses(!)

4. Strain the curdled milk using a cheese cloth, just hang the cheese cloth with the curdled milk for about 30 minutes for additional water to drain out.

5. This is the soft paneer. However most of my recipes call for the firm paneer, Wrap the curdled milk in the cheese cloth, keep a heavy weight on top overnight to squeeze out any additional liquid.

Ta-da Paneer is ready. You can use it right away, however I recommend keeping in the fridge for about 24 hours especially if grilling with it, just so that it hardens up a little.

FYI- I used instant pot, well because its super easy to clean .... and then I was in a mode, so boiled the entire gallon of whole milk, used 1/3 rd for paneer, 1/3rd for making yogurt and 1/3rd for making Indian Ice Cream- Kulfi!

FYI- If you are using a regular stove top for boiling milk, the word on the street is, add 1/4 cup water to the pan before you start boiling the milk, it helps in not having the milk stuck on the stove top pan.

We of course used the home made paneer for grilling as Paneer Tikka and I realized the home made paneer was softer (less chewy) and above all; I was just crazy excited that it was home made. So the child in me took over and I ensured that the family tasted the paneer

Of course this needs to follow with an easy breeze quick paneer tikka recipe for Grilling of course! Coming Soon- I Promise.

Quick Food Fix: Grilled Corn Crostini

Let's make your vegetarian grilling more fun !

Now, we all know that without corn, the grilling is too boring. But corn on the cob gets too boring and too filling after a while.
So here is our new variation of consuming the corn!

You could either use kernels from corn or even frozen ones, I used the kernels fresh off the cob since, well I was in the mood of adding more work for myself!

Serves: 6-10 as a side

Ingredients
French Bread: One loaf, sliced 1 inch wide
Goat Cheese: 8-10 tsp
Corn: 1 cup kernels
Cherry Tomatoes: 1/2 cup sliced half
White onion: 1/2 cup finely chopped
Fresh Basil: 1/4 cup finely chopped

Marination
Pesto Sauce: 2 tsp (You could make fresh or use any of the nice store brought ones like I did)
Olive Oil: 1 tsp
Salt, Pepper, Chilli Flakes per taste
Note: If you like your food slightly spicier, i highly recommend adding  Chili Oil as a topping.

Process:
1. Mix the onions, corn and the marination ingredients and let it sit for 5-10 minutes
2. When the grill is hot, let the vegetables grill/ crispen for about 3-5 minutes. Take off the grill
3. On the sliced bread, spread a generous amount of goat cheese.
4. Top the bread with the grilled vegetables and garnish with Basil

Enjoy the perfect cold-warm crostini!

Now, FYI-I highly recommend using these grill mats, they are amazing and the corn kernels don't fall off and above all very easy to clean! We use these mats all the time!

Variation: If you want to make the crostini in the oven instead of grilling, the setting should be broil, and let the vegetables cook for 5 minutes! Layer and enjoy

The fun about Crostini's is it looks amazing, is simple to put together and is a lot of fun to sample variations!

2017 Summer: BBQ Edition

Summer in Chicago is short lived and because of this, we make every minute count! Every single evening needs to be outdoors, getting wet in the ample water areas in the city parks or simply enjoying the breeze on the deck with some BBQ.

As a vegetarian, I get puzzling looks when I am asked... what do you grill?

Just so you know.... we have BBQ'ed 3 times in a row this July 4th weekend, so if anything, we really do try to mix it up on the menu to not get repetitive. And my list of grilling recipes is growing furiously!

Continuing the tradition of last year and adding recipes in the mix... here is our new concoction for Tangy Potato's. Per my MIL who is visiting from India, it’s her favorite!!!

Recipe: Serves 6 greedy adults!

Golden potatoes 8-10 cut in wedges (Don’t make them too thin, since the grill will burn them)

Marinate Ingredients:

Olive Oil: 6-8 tsp

Spices:

Red Chili- 2 tsp (If you like it spicy)

Dried mint powder - 1 tsp (You can even take fresh mint and chop it up finely)

Salt: 1 tsp

Chole Masala: 2 tsp (Available at Whole Foods, Indian Stores)

Chaat Masala: 1 tsp (Available at Whole Foods, Indian Stores)

Process:

11.      Mixes Potato with the marinate ingredients and let it sit for 15-20 min

22.      Grill for about 5-10 minutes, you need to turn it with the grilling spatula soon!

Feel free to season with Squeezed lemon and add in additional salt from top as needed.

Enjoy as a side, or use this as a burger patty or just binge on it while you wait for the rest of the food to grill up!

Quick Food Fix: Crusted Tofu

Breakfasts on weekday's in my house is cereal/ oatmeal for the kids. A hot coffee which becomes warm by the time I get to it and then a lot of 'running out the door'

Yes, Yes I know, breakfast should be the biggest meal yada yada yada. I swear whoever came up with that either woke up at 5 to ensure that happens or just preached and didn’t practice. 

So yes, breakfast is definitely not the biggest meal in my house, it’s just the most rushed!

However, the other day, I had an extra '20 minutes' at hand! so instead of sitting and sipping on my hot coffee, I said let me try this 'Hot breakfast on a weekday thing'

It worked out, it was quick to put together, was delicious and well I did enjoy it. However, it was once in a blue moon thing of a weekday breakfast for me, definitely hard to keep up. 

Recipe for the crusted tofu

Ingredients: 

1 package extra-firm tofu

Wet ingredients:

3 tsp All purpose Flour/ Chickpea Flour

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Water to mix

Dry ingredients:

3 tablespoons panko bread crumbs

2 tablespoons white sesame seeds

1 tablespoon black sesame seeds (Takmariya)

2 tsp Crushed Peanuts (optional)

Salt, pepper, red chili as per taste 

Oil for toasting/ frying on a pan

Scallions, sliced 

For the nuoc cham: Dipping Sauce:

1 tsp hoisin sauce

2 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp chilli sauce (optional)

2 red Thai chilies: thinly sliced

INSTRUCTIONS

Optional: Drain the tofu for as much time as possible — 20 minutes to an hour. It makes the crisping portion quicker, however if you don’t drain no worries, just let the tofu crisp for a few more minutes!

The nuoc cham/ Dipping Sauce: 

In a medium bowl, mix all the ingredients! Ta Da

Prep: 

1. Mix Chickpea flour/ All Purpose flour with 1 teaspoon of water to a smooth and runny paste. 

2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a plate.

Process

1. Cut the drained tofu into cubes

2. Submerge the tofu into the Flour-Water mixture,

3. Then coat the tofu in the sesame-panko mix.

4. Repeat with the remaining cubes

5. Heat a large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat and add about 2 to 3 teaspoons of oil. 

6. Place the tofu cubes into the frying pan. 

7. Crisp tofu slices for about 3 to 4 minutes a side, then transfer to a serving platter. 

8. Garnish with scallions. 

Enjoy a healthy, quick to put together 'dish' with the dipping sauce. 

Full disclosure, I feel this would be a better appetizer recipe, it was filling for breakfast for sure, however the flavors are strong and I had 2 breath mints before work to ensure that no one else knew about my 'breakfast of a king' mood!

Quick Food Fix: Spicy Cauliflower Steak

Needing my mommy moment~

Last night, I really craved 'good food' something rich, delicious and yummy, and home made.

I wish my mom lived closer and I could call her and tell her, I was this and this. But oh well, reality sinks and I am a mom now and I still wanted some 'good food'

So I got down to business and now a total show off - I started food prep 5:40 pm and by 7:20, dinner was made, kids were fed and were getting ready for reading and bed time! So a very satisfying evening!

Dinner Menu:
Vij's Adapted cauliflower steak
Malai Kofta,
Paratha,
Cucumber sabzi....
followed by left over fruit custard from the night before!

Yippie and it was totally worth it! All four of us thoroughly enjoyed the dinner  and licked our fingers and cleaned the plates! Even Little Lady, who picks and chooses which vegetable she wants, took second and third helpings of 'Vij's Adapted cauliflower steak'

The recipe is adapted from here. A friend had made it a few munch bunches ago. I modified to fit in my 'Quick Food Fix Rule'

Serves 4:
Ingredients
Caulifower florets cut length wise
Spices: 1/4 tsp
Salt, Pepper, Mirchi/ Cayenne Pepper, Cinamanon, Crushed jeera powder, rock salt
Ginger: 1/2 inch- Grated
Garlic: 4 cloves- Grated/ finely chopped
Olive Oil: 3 tsp

For coating:
All Purpose Flour/ Chickpea Flour: 2 tsp mixed in a liquid paste in 1 cup water
Panko Breadcrumbs: 1/2 cup (feel free to use other variety, i just have some left over from my Onion Rings evening)

Process:
1. In a box mix all ingredients, oil and the florets should be marinated with all spices well

2. Add the coating ingredients and again mix well
3. In the pre-heated oven (425), on a greased dish, lay out the marinated florets evenly spaced

4. Let it bake/ crispen for 10 minutes
5. Flip and let them bake for another 10 minutes
6. Ta Da!! Garnish with chopped cilantro and enjoy!

It is the perfect combination of crispy cover, soft flavorful cauliflower, who new 'Gobhi' could taste so well!

And yeah, a weeknight malai kofta recipe will follow: I skipped all frying and just enjoyed the 'healthier' twist. However truth be told, the portion i gobbled was not 'healthy; for sure.

Chicago Summer Delights: Vegetarian Grilling

 If there is one time I see Sumit really content cooking is at the Grill. At the onset of summer, we finally bought our grill and it’s been a super duper hit. Making us ask ourselves: 'Why did we wait for so long?'

A few of our evenings are spent grilling and chilling on our deck. The kids can play with bubbles; we happily chat after a long day at work with the delicious smells of the grill food, relax and enjoy the city view!

Here was the super appropriate gift for him this 'Father's day':

As we explore this grilling journey, we are realizing there are not many recipes out there outside of vegetarian burgers, grilled vegetables with salt and peppers. As foodie's out here, that is great but definitely not enough.

So I introduce another tag today' Vegetarian Grilling'

Hence we are exploring and experimenting. Some success and some failures.

Here is one of the recipes: Spinach & Kale Stuffed Peppers:

 

Vegetarian Grilling Recipe

The best part of this, they follow my rule of 'Quick Food Fix'

Spinach & Kale Stuffed Peppers:

1. 3 to 4 peppers: Here are used the sweet peppers and split in half, feel free to use regular peppers and take the cap off.

2. Spinach- 1 bunch

3. 2 to 3 Kale Leaves destalked

4. 1/2 cup of frozen corn

5. Goat Cheese: About 1/2 cup

6. Spices: Dried Oregano leaves, Red pepper Flakes, Saunf/ Fennel Seeds, Salt- to taste

Recipe:

1. On a pan, on medium heat, add 2 tsp of olive oil, add the fennel seeds

2. Add finely chopped spinach and kale leaves. Saute for 2-3 minutes

3. Add spices and corn. Saute for 1-2 minutes

4. Add 1 tsp of goat cheese and switch off the gas.

5. Stuff the split peppers with the spinach Saute, top with goat cheese and take it to the grill

6. Grill for 5 minutes till smoky

7. ENJOY!

This definitely is what a cool dad looks like!!!