I have been doing some (not enough) cooking from fresh garden ingredients. I used my radishes and swiss card and bell pepper to make the
quinoa flax utthapam from Veg Inspirations. I love healthy stuff. I made the batter from Usha's recipe (except I left out the cooked rice because I forgot to put it in). It's been a bit cold here so it took a bit longer to ferment, but I was patient. Then I sauteed my veggies and some black salt and mustard seeds and poured the batter on top. This is exactly the opposite of how the recipe calls to make the dish, but the veggies I used definitely benefit from a quick saute. The batter was pretty thick so I turned down the heat to low and covered the pan and let it cook slowly. It turned out thick and hearty. Mine came out thicker than the utthapam one might get at a restaurant and with a stronger flavor from the quinoa and brown rice. But I like strong flavors, so that worked out OK for me. Of course I ate it with coconut chutney. It really is a meal in itself.
This morning, I made ... guess what... idli out of the batter. No surprise that they came out great. Took a bit longer to steam (about 20 minutes) than traditional idli. Of course I ate it with coconut chutney.
I also make a nice coriander parsley chutney using a recipe from Manjula's Kitchen (Hari Chutney). I have lots of parsley in the garden, so I did a half coriander half parsley chutney, but otherwise followed the recipe. Came out great. After I tasted it I went out to the back yard and sprinkled a packet of coriander seeds into a portion of a freshly dug bed. Coriander is so easy to grow here, the perfect winter herb. A few years ago I made the mistake of harvesting the seeds from our coriander while sitting on the lawn. A month later and our lawn was sprouting coriander from the stray seeds.
I think I need to try something completely different from the things I have been cooking. Not sure what that might be yet. I haven't made a korma yet, so maybe...
