Quinoa salad with a creamy dressing - no boring stuff here

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.. until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.." - Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mocking Bird

I was reminded of this quote recently during President Obama's speech as he spoke for the last time before making way to the the new presidency. "To Kill a Mocking bird" was one of the very first English reads I remember from my school days. It was still the days when I had no exposure to racism, had no idea of the outside world. I was barely older than Scout when I read it the first time but Finch and Scout's characters have stayed etched in memory. I have read the book multiple times since then and it never fails to fill me with warmth and hope. For the past few days my fb feeds are inundated with news of the inauguration and the aftermath with the protests all over the country. If you are following the swearing in of the 45th president of the largest democracy in the world, I am sure you are familiar with all the happenings. I am an eternal optimist for myself and my children and I hope that the current divisiveness gets replaced by love and hope very soon.

Today's recipe is a salad, I can guess what you might be thinking when I say the word salad. Back home in India, the word salad always had the negative connotation of being 'ghaas phoose', (roughly translated as a muddle of greens with an implication of not being tasty). Things have evolved greatly and salads have become the mainstay in most cuisines around the world because of the mostly healthy ingredients that go into them. You can choose to make an unhealthy salad if you wish :-) but generally and by definition salads are good for you. A salad is a 'put together' of various different ingredients with different texture, shape, color and taste. Infact "salad bowl" was the popular metaphor used to describe this country of mine and referred to the scores of immigrant population that have come in, stayed and made America their homes, it referred to the uniqueness and individuality each of us brought thus enriching the country as a whole.

If I went back to my childhood self and asked, "which salad I liked most", my answer would be "sautekaayi kosambri" because kosambri was the only dish akin to salad that I knew. Most regional indian meals have a salad - kosambri, kachumbar, raita which is generally raw vegetables served with a mild seasoning as our ancestors recognized the benefits of eating raw & fresh before jumping into any processed, cooked food. These are light on the digestive system and provide you the goodness of the raw vegetables. My salads are usually very plain and simple, if I am putting together an indian version (kosambri), then it has got to have a sprinkle of grated coconut, a seasoning of mustard and asafoetida. If I am fixing a non Indian version, then it is mostly a dash of lemon juice, some fresh cilantro, black pepper and salt. I am not into heavy vinaigrette, mustard or other choice favorites when it comes to salad dressings. Lemon and a bit of olive oil is my preferred dressing to enhance the freshness of the salad.

Today's salad is an exception as the dressing here is really 'dressy'. I found the recipe for this dressing on my pinterest board from gimmedelicious.com. Ah, that is another one of my favorite down time activities, to troll pinterest boards for recipe inspirations and minion jokes (my favorite by the way :-)). While most recipes are forgotten a few minutes after I glance over them, some stay on coaxing me to try until I give in. This dressing didn't need too much coaxing either as it uses my favorite avocado (called butter fruit in India). I skipped garlic, omitted greek yogurt and kept it minimalistic to bring out the most of avocado flavor. I love how this fruit gives you all the buttery richness without the inherent drawbacks of eating real butter. It is good cream without the unnecessary threats of fat and calories. How can you not fall for that offering? So I did try the dressing recipe and was hooked on completely.

Guacamole is a staple at home as we like to roll the roti up with a generous serving of guac for dinner on most days. I like to add chopped avocadoes in salads all the time. The only trouble with it is that they get oxidized and turn black by lunch time making the lunch box somewhat unappealing and unappetizing. Even with the accompanying lemon juice, the pieces lose their color within a couple of hours. When I saw this dressing, I jumped for joy as it has avocado but finds a way to not spoil the looks of the salad. The dressing is what I call 'stripped down guacamole', it has avocado, black pepper, lemon and cilantro but omits onions, tomatoes and jalapeno. To officially make it a dressing, some olive oil is added. The resulting dressing can also be used as a dip or spread.

I prefer packing a lunch from home every day, lunch box has been an inseparable part of my student life and continues to accompany me in adulthood and my working years. I find it healthier, more economical and definitely easier to carry lunch from home. Exceptions are the days where I am meeting someone for lunch during work. Last year there were a few months in the 3rd and 4th quarter of the year where work was upto my nose and beyond and I had no energy to plan or visualize a lunch box. So, I tagged along with a friend who knowing my love for salads promised that she would help me discover a new salad place. It is a local chain called Evergreen that promises fresh salads. The place is almost always packed if you go there during lunch time and still I found them to be very efficient. They have an assembly line (just like Subway if you are familiar) and keep passing the container down the line as you go on adding ingredients. But unlike other salad bars I have been to, at the end of the line they pour the contents from your bowl onto a chopping board, chop them up and convert into a coarse blend before returning them back to the bowl and handing it over to you. This makes the ingredients come together and helps to have the flavors mix better. I picked up my inspiration for blended salads from this place and have been experimenting with them ever since. The avocado dressing helps to blend and bind the contents of this salad.

What do you need to make quinoa salad? 
Serves 3 people
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
1.5 cups water (or use vegetable broth if you have)
Salad veggies (these are the ones I used today, you can add bell peppers, raw mangoes and any other vegetables you like): 
1 cup chopped cucumbers (I used English cucumbers and chopped them with the skin)
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1 cup cooked black beans/garbanzo beans
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped apple (I used a small sized one and peeled and de-seeded it)
for the dressing: 
1 ripe avocado
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1.5 Tbsp lemon/lime juice
pinch of salt
1/4 Tsp coarsely powdered black pepper
1 Tbsp pure olive oil (use extra virgin if you like the aroma)

How do you make quinoa salad? 

• Take a saucepan, add quinoa in it and roast on low flame for 2 mins or until you start to hear faint popping sounds. Stir a couple of times for even roasting. 
• Add water into the saucepan and bring it to a boil. 
• Reduce the flame to low, cover and cook for 8 mins. Switch off and let it stand for 2 mins before fluffing it up with a fork. 
• Add the cooked quinoa to the salad bowl and let it cool completely before adding the rest of the ingredients. 

• Add the chopped vegetables and the beans into the bowl and mix gently. 
• Take all the dressing ingredients except for the black pepper to a food processor or blender and make a smooth paste. Adjust consistency by adding olive oil to your preference. I like the dressing to be thick and creamy and less oily, so I stuck to the above measurements. 

• Fold in the dressing into the bowl, add crushed pepper and mix gently to bring it all together. Use all or as much of the prepared dressing as you like. Anything remaining can be enjoyed as a dip with crackers, chips etc.

• Taste and adjust lemon, black pepper etc as you like. 
• Cover and refrigerate for an hour to chill before serving. 

Notes: 

• I used canned black beans, so washed them in 2 washes of water and drained all the water. 
• Tomatoes are a must for me in salads not only for their nutrients and splash of color but also the taste and freshness it imparts. Cherry or grape tomatoes halved are best in salads if they are in season, else use a fully ripe but firm, meaty tomato that holds shape when tossed in the salad. 
• Add a handful of pomegranate seeds if you have them handy, adds color as well as crunch. 
• I wanted a wet salad this time and used 1.5 avocadoes in the dressing. You can vary the amount of dressing you add depending on your taste. 

Baalekaayi Dose (Plantain dosa) - meet this delicious coastal Karnataka special!

"A child hugs everyone until an adult teaches it not to" ~ unknown

I sit down after a normal Sunday of chores & activities, looking at the hundreds of pictures I have taken and copied to folders, neatly arranged by the dish name, waiting for me to pick one and start writing.. I spend some time trying to pick the one dish that talks to me today, the one that I can talk about today with you all. I do choose what I want to blog about. But just as I start to catch the floating thoughts in my head, all that comes out as I try to hit the keys on my keyboard are jumbled words, nothing related to the recipe but everything related to the world around me, around us..

I sat staring at the screen for an hour, tried to take a break by doing something else, tried to organize thoughts by doing mundane tasks such as prepping for tomorrow's work day lunch, spending time on enhancing the pics, watermarking them etc but I knew in my heart that I wanted to say something different and far away from the recipe I chose to blog about today. I don't usually let things happening around me take control of my emotions but sometimes it is hard not to respond to what is happening around me. Every day this past week, I have woken up to read/hear about some incident, from Dhaka to Texas to Louisiana to France. People are hurting and it doesn't matter whether you white, black, male, female, adult or child. 4 college students lost their lives in this unreasonable violence, 4 young lives with hopes and aspirations, budding spirits just went away before it was time. Black & white family men lost their lives leaving young children and wives behind to tend to a life of memories and loneliness. I strongly believe that every life matters and deserves respect, irrespective of where you come from, what your religious beliefs are and the color of your skin. Let us teach the children to appreciate diversity, accept differences and embrace everyone as they are. My prayers for each of the families trying to face the grief due to the loss of a loved one. I am in general a very hopeful, positive person and believe that there is a lot of good in everybody, hope it finds the strength to prevail over violence.

I have a very simple recipe today, if you are a dose (dosa) lover, you will like this version. I saw this a few years back in the blogosphere, that was before I was a blogger. I have talked to my Mangalorean friends since then and learnt that it is a very common dose in the coastal homes since banana is grown in plenty in every backyard and most every part of the plant finds its way into the kitchen and into a recipe. A dose made with raw banana intrigued me and I tried it. The flavor is so fresh and the dose so tasty, we got hooked on it. Whats more, it is very easy to put together (soak, grind and pour) and doesn't require any fermentation at all. You can make this for breakfast, lunch or dinner as it can be as light or as filling as you want it to be. The traditional version has rice in it and just adds the chopped plantain. Over the years, I have made up my own version of this recipe by adding a little bit of urad dal (for the soft texture) and methi/fenugreek seeds as it is generally added to dose batter and brings a nice hue when dose is cooked. You can skip these and stick to the rice, plantain, salt version if you prefer. One of my friends adds 1/2 cup of shredded fresh coconut which also lends an undeniable sweet taste and soft texture to the dose.

Baalekaayi or raw banana/plantain is one of my favorite vegetables, and I always end up getting them from the grocery store if they look fresh. This versatile vegetable can go into the recipe all by itself or pair up and play nicely with others. You can find many of my favorite recipes using this vegetable on the blog here, here, here, here, and here :-). We have always had these plants in the backyard in Mysore and mostly grew the ripe fruit variety at home. I only have ornamental plants in pots here as the weather doesn't allow me to put them in the ground. They move in to the house as the cooler months come by but stay outdoors and sway happily during summer. Fruits or not, I love the plant just like that so they are here to stay with us..

What do you need? 
1 big plantain/green banana
1 cup quinoa*
3/4 cup millet (sawa or foxtail)*
1 tsp urad dal
1/4 Tsp fenugreek seeds
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
3-4 green chilies
2-3 Tsp oil to roast dose

* Look in the notes for replacing it with rice

How do you make Baalekaayi dose? 

• Wash quinoa and millet in a couple washes of water. 
• Soak them together for 4-5 hours
• Wash, pat dry the plantain. 
• Remove the ends and peel the plantain.
• Chop into bite sized pieces. 
• Drain the water, take it to a blender along with the green chilies. 
• Grind into a coarse paste with 1/2 cup of water. 
• Add the chopped plantain pieces and grind to a smooth paste. 
• Add water if needed and bring the consistency to a pouring liquid (imagine a thick buttermilk)
• Add salt, mix well and let it sit for about 10 minutes. 
• Heat the dose griddle, add a drop or two of oil on the pan. Take a piece of paper towel and rub down the oil evenly on the surface of the griddle. 
• Mix the batter, take a ladleful and pour it in the center of the griddle, using the back of the griddle and in a circular motion, spread the dose to a nice, round circle. 
• Add a couple drops of oil around the surface of the dose and let it cook for a minute and half until the bottom side cooks well and turns golden in color. 
• Using a spatula, slowly nudge the dose from the edges and remove it from the griddle. 
• If you want to, you can cook it on both sides. Fold the dose in half and serve with your choice of chutney or pudi :-)

Notes: 

• Traditionally this dose is made with rice as it is the grain of choice in Karnataka, I replaced it with a combination of quinoa & millet. If you want rice, use 2 cups of rice instead. Rest of the procedure is same. 
• Green chilies add a tiny hint of spice, if you are making it for children or don't like chilies, reduce or skip them together.
• I sometimes add some fresh cilantro or ginger while grinding to make it flavorful. 
• Taste in this dose comes from the plantain, choose green skinned, firm plantains in the recipe. 
• I use my cast iron pan for making dose, it is well seasoned by years of use and hardly needs extra oil to roast dose and gives a bright golden color to the dose. 

Tips for making good colored dose: 

• Use heavy cast iron pan if possible. 
• Heat the pan well, when you sprinkle a few drops of water, it should sizzle furiously. 
• Rub the surface of the pan with a chopped piece of onion before you ladle out the batter. 
• Reduce heat to medium while you pour the batter and once done, increase the heat. 
• Some doses are cooked on one side only while others are roasted on both sides. 
• Thickness (or thinness) of dose is a personal choice. Thinner ones are for people that enjoy crispy doses while thicker ones are for those who love the soft, velvety texture :-)
• Adding 1/2 Tsp of sugar brings the golden color in dose, if you are ok with the extra sugar, go ahead. 

This is how BH likes to make this dose :-)

He was preparing it on a weekday morning and I usually wrap the breakfast to go, so he made my dose, slathered it with loads of chutney pudi, deep roasted it and rolled it for easy handling and eating once I reach work. Ah I am blessed!!

Pour the batter, add a liberal dose of chutney pudi on top. Let it cook

Once the bottom is golden brown, flip it over and let the other side get hot for a few secs

Take it onto a foil, roll it! I gobble it after I reach work and ready to eat bf

Quinoa bhaath with Multicolored bell peppers - simple tastes best

Say this with me, "Delicious doesn't have to be complicated". I know this by many years of having fun in the kitchen. I will prove it to you with this post today. I have a really delicious, light and healthy dish that has proteins, fiber and nutrients with some extraordinary taste. Perfect for a lunch at home or at work.

Before we get into the works of the dish, here is a little bit of acquired gyan on Quinoa (Keen vah). It is a whole grain(actually a seed but that is merely a technicality), high in proteins and fiber and is easy to cook. It is a grain native to South America. Over the last few years, it has shot to fame because of the complete protein (9 amino acids - look up why they are good for you) it offers along with being gluten free.

I am a true blue South Indian, though I eat a lot of different types of cuisines, when it comes to comfort food, I love my fluffy white rice with a simple saaru & palya. I was so habituated to eating the sona masoori rice all my life that eating anything else left me wanting it very badly. When we first moved to the US and when we were automatically multiplying every dollar we spent with the Indian exchange rate and feeling guilty for spending so much money over groceries, I tried buying other lower priced varieties of rice. But nothing seemed to bring that feeling of joy you get after eating a bowl of light, fluffy white rice. While the brain kept saying that it was polished off of its nutrients, the mind kept staying hooked to the color and taste :-).

But life has a way of bringing in wisdom at the right time. I started experimenting with whole grains and healthy foods a few years back and slowly started eliminating the processed stuff from the pantry. I still use white rice and still bake with all purpose flour but the frequency is very much reduced.

The first time I heard the name Quinoa was from a cousin some years ago. It took me a couple more years from there to actually try it. Honestly, I didn't relish it the first time I ate it but had to try a few more times as I had brought a big packet from the store :-). I tried mixing it with the regular side dishes and it worked really well as you won't notice the slight smell of the grain and thus the grain became a main stay in my kitchen. I cook it atleast 3 times a week and alternate it with other grains like millet or broken wheat and they all work beautifully as replacements to white rice. If you are looking for alternatives to rice, go ahead and give quinoa a try, I am sure you will love it. Though many people seem to turn their noses up because of its inherent taste, I enjoy the nutty flavor very much.

Quinoa has come a long way from being the hard to find ingredient available only in the specialty food/health food stores to being spotted in the bulk bins of regular grocery stores. Though it is well suited in most dishes where rice is used, I like to surround it with other familiar flavors and give it a robust taste.

Onto today's recipe, it is a version of the very famous Karnataka vangi bhaath or brinjal rice. Many of my non kannadiga friends are surprised when they eat my vegetable bhaath without brinjal in it :-), it is actually quite common in Karnataka. We use the same vangi bhaath powder but use different vegetables. I do not make vangi bhaath unless I find the right variety of brinjals since it is sacrosanct to not spoil the authentic vangi bhaath :-), you cannot use any altoo-faltoo brinjal and make vangi bhaath, you are better off eating something else instead. But vegetable bhaath has no such restrictions, have a handful of green beans and some carrots, you are good to go. Next to vangi bhaath, I love the bhaath made with bell peppers especially the colored ones, these are milder than the green peppers. So here is a bhaath made with vangi bhaath powder and with colored bell peppers and quinoa. It is one of my favorite lunch box items to carry.

I have organized the ingredients and preperations in 3 distinct steps. Most of these can be done in parallel and the total time would not be more than 30 minutes and you can beat Rachel Ray hands down with this healthy, super yummy dish any day :-).

What do you need to make Quinoa bhaath? 
Bhaath powder: 
2 Tbsp chana dal
1 Tbsp urad dal
1.5 Tbsp coriander seeds
1/2 Tsp cumin
1/4 Tsp fenugreek seeds
2 - 1 inch piece cinnamon
4-6 dry red chilies
4-5 black pepper corns
2 cloves
2-3 strands of mace/javitri
1/8 Tsp asafetida
marble sized tamarind
1/4 cup grated dry coconut
4-6 curry leaves

For Bhaath
1.5 cups quinoa
3 cups water
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp bhaath powder
2-2.5 cups chopped bell pepper (see variations)
1/4 Tsp turmeric
1/4 Tsp crushed jaggery/brown sugar
For seasoning: 
2 Tbsp oil
1 Tsp mustard
1 Tsp chana dal
2 Tbsp raw peanuts
4-6 curry leaves (optional but gives the authentic look :-))

How do you make Quinoa bhaath? 
Cook Quinoa: 

• In a heavy bottom sauce pan on medium heat, add quinoa along with 1/2 Tsp oil.
• Stir to coat the oil and roast for 4-5 minutes stirring frequently until quinoa starts to pop. 
• Add 3 cups of water and mix well. 
• Bring the water to boil, lower the heat, partially cover the pan and set the timer to 20 minutes. 
• After 20 minutes, water would be all absorbed and quinoa cooked. 
• Close the lid completely, switch off the stove and let it stand for 5 minutes before fluffing it up with a fork or spoon. 

Making the Bhaath powder: 

• Heat a heavy bottom pan (I prefer cast iron for all my roasting) on medium heat. 
• Add all the ingredients under bhaath powder except for dry coconut and asafoetida.
• Stirring frequently, roast the ingredients for 7-8 minutes or until the dal turns golden brown and the spices give out the aroma.
• Add grated coconut and asafortida, mix, switch off the stove and let it cool completely. 
• Once cool, grind into a fine powder. Keep aside covered until ready to use. 

Assembling the Bhaath: 

• Heat a wide pan (so you can mix everything in it without transferring the contents to another bowl), add 1 Tbsp of oil. 
• Add the chopped bell pepper, salt and turmeric powder. 
• Do not cover the pan, let the peppers cook for 4-5 minutes. They just lose the rawness but stay crunchy on bite. 
• Add 2 Tbsp of the masala powder, jaggery and mix well. 
• Switch off the stove. add the cooked, fluffed quinoa and set aside until it is cool to touch. 

• Heat the remaining oil in a seasoning pan, add the seasoning ingredients listed and roast until mustard pops and peanuts turn crunchy. 
• Pour the seasoning over the quinoa and let it come to room temperature. 

• Mix everything together gently with a light hand, taste and adjust masala, salt as needed.  
• Pack in lunch boxes, eat when warm or cold. A side of yogurt goes very well. 

Notes: 

• Roasting quinoa before cooking brings out its nutty flavor very well. 
• You can also wash quinoa in couple of changes of water if you are just getting introduced to the grain until you get used to its faint smell. I soak and wash it thoroughly when I use it in Dosas. 
• Follow package instruction for the exact amount of water, generally it is 1:2 for quinoa to water. 
• Patience is the key to roast the bhaath masala ingredients, low to medium heat, a sturdy pan, frequent stirring all bring out the best flavored powder. 
• You can scale up the ingredients and make bhaath powder in larger quantities, remember to store in air tight, dry containers. Refrigerated powder stays longer. 
• Tamarind I get here is usually quite dry and is easy to powder with the rest of the ingredients. If your tamarind is sticky or you are using tamarind paste, skip it from the powder but add it to the vegetable and fry until the juices are absorbed. Make sure to adjust the cooking time to keep the vegetables as crunchy as you like. 

Variations: 

• Like I said in the beginning of this post, you can make this bhaath with other vegetables - beans, carrots & green peas is a good combo, just plain brinjal tastes delicious (it is the famous vangi bhaath), cabbage bhaath is a family favorite - quick and easy but don't take it in lunch boxes :-), another delicious variety is made with cluster beans (Gorikayi in kannada). 
• You can use the same powder to make bhaath with regular white rice. Cook rice making sure the grains are separate and mix in the vegetables/masala. 
• A typical vegetable bhaath in Karnataka is a treat with its spices, salt, sourness and a very faint sweetness. Roasted dry coconut and the little jaggery help add the right amount of sweetness to the dish.