Baked Zucchini Fries With A Yogurt-Buttermilk Ranch Dip

These baked zucchini fries are an easy and healthy alternative to French fries. I made this a few nights ago when I was looking for a simple side that would go well with the grilled cheese sandwiches I was making for dinner. I also made a quick dip for the fries while they were baking in the oven.
The recipes for both the fries and the dip can be found on Faith’s blog.

For the Zucchini Fries:

Ingredients:
2 zucchini, cut into long, thick pieces
1 egg, beaten with a splash of milk
¼ cup unseasoned, dry bread crumbs
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
Salt
Pepper
Red chilli powder
Garlic powder
Dried herbs (I used a combination of basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with foil and grease well.

In a wide, shallow bowl, beat the eggs with a little bit of milk. In another bowl, combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, chilli powder, and dried herbs.

Dip the zucchini pieces in the egg-milk mixture first and then roll in the bread crumb- cheese mixture to get an even coating all over.

Place in a single layer on the baking sheet. Bake at 425 F for 20- 25 minutes.

My fries were a little soft on the inside and had a crunchy exterior but they were still very tasty. I’ve also tried Ellie Krieger’s recipe for Zucchini Parmesan Crisps using the dry ingredients in this recipe. We liked it so much that I’ve made it twice in the last few days.




For the Yogurt-Buttermilk Ranch Dip:

Ingredients:
Yogurt
Buttermilk
Lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Sugar
Dried parsley
Dried dill

Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl and whisk well. Serve with fries.

Radish- a thoran and a raita

Radish thoran
Ingredients:
20-25 radishes, chopped into small pieces
½ medium onion, finely chopped

For seasoning:
1 Tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp urad dal
A pinch of asafoetida
4-5 curry leaves
½ tsp red chilli powder
2 Tbsp grated coconut
Salt to taste

Method:
In a pan, heat the oil & add the ingredients for the seasoning (except chilli powder & coconut) in the order listed above.

Add the chopped radishes along with the chilli powder, mix, and cover and cook till tender, 5-7 minutes. The radishes would have turned a lighter shade of pink by now. Reserve about 4 Tbsp of this to make the *raita.

To the rest, add the grated coconut and mix well. Cook for another minute or so. Thoran’s ready!


For the raita -
Mix the cooked radish mixture (reserved from above) with 2 cups of yogurt that has been whisked well. Add 2-3 chopped green chillies and some salt. Mix nicely.

Chill well and serve.

Raspberry Shrikhand

Shrikhand is an Indian dessert made of strained yogurt. It is one of the main desserts in Maharashtrian cuisine and Gujarati cuisine.The yogurt is tied and hung until all the water has drained off, the result being a thick and creamy yogurt. Dried and fresh fruit such as mango are also added. Other ingredients include sugar, cardamom powder, and saffron. Shrikhand is popular in western India.


The dish is prepared by placing the strained yogurt and sugar in a deep bowl and mixing it thoroughly. The cardamom powder and saffron are then added and mixed. The dish is served chilled. In Gujarati cuisine, shrikhand is eaten as either a side-dish with breads such as
poori , or as a desert. It is commonly served as part of a vegetarian thali in Gujarati restaurants and it is very popular as part of wedding feasts. It is often served chilled and provides a refreshing counterpoint to hot and spicy curries.
(Source:Wikipedia)

I like shrikhand but only in small quantities. It is a little too sweet for my taste, especially the store-bought ones. In spite of the fact that I’ve lived a major chunk of my life in Mumbai, I have had this Maharashtrian favorite only on a couple of occasions.

Since we’re focusing on raspberries this month for A Fruit A Month, I decided to make my shrikhand using raspberries. This recipe that I came across a few days back was my inspiration.


For tips on how to strain yogurt, see here or here.

I used 2 coffee filters placed inside a strainer kept over a bowl (to catch the whey that drained off), to get the job done. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for 4-5 hours at least (overnight for best results). I started getting impatient after 2 hours and went ahead and started preparing the shrikhand.

Ingredients:
(For 1 regular serving/ 2 small servings)
½ cup drained, thick yogurt (obtained by straining a little more than a cup of low-fat yogurt for 2 hours)
2 Tbsp honey
2 tsp powdered sugar (adjust according to taste)
20-25 raspberries (puréed and strained)
A pinch of cardamom powder
A pinch of salt
A few slivered almonds

Method:
Mix all the ingredients together. That’s all!

Chill before serving. Top with almonds and raspberries.


The raspberries paired very well with the yogurt to make an easy and delicious dessert that’s healthy too.

Notes:
While 2 hours of straining the yogurt did give me a shrikhand which was nice and thick, I would like to make it “properly” the next time by leaving it overnight for a richer and creamier texture. I might even just go for Greek yogurt and skip the step of straining the yogurt altogether. :D

The batch of raspberries I had were a little too tart and I had to add some sugar in addition to the honey.


I am going to try my hand at Amrakhand (shrikhand flavored using mango pulp) very soon.

This yummy dessert is going to:
Dee of Ammalu’s Kitchen for AFAM: Raspberry
Easycrafts of Simple Indian Food for the Think Cardamom event
Susan of Food Blogga for Beautiful Bones


I also just wanted to mention very quickly that Easycrafts has kindly passed this onto to me. Thank you!

Orange Yogurt Bread

I came across this recipe on Nicole’s wonderful blog- Pinch My Salt and decided that this was something that had to be tried out immediately. It looked so very appealing. And for once I had all the required ingredients at home!

I made a couple of changes to the original recipe. I cut down on the amount of butter used, increased the amount of yogurt, substituted the granulated sugar with equal amounts of brown and regular sugar and also threw some raisins into the batter.

The results were pretty impressive, if I may say so myself. The batter turned out to be enough for almost 2 loaves so that’s what I ended up doing- baking 2 loaves.
They turned out really well. They were moist, sweet, soft and spongy- just the way I like it.

Ingredients:
Wet:
4 Tbsp butter
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
½ cup+ 2 Tbsp low-fat yogurt
½ cup orange juice
2 tsp orange extract

Dry:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ cup raisins
½ tsp salt

For the glaze:
Powdered sugar
Orange juice


Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs, beat well.
Add the yogurt, orange juice and orange extract. Mix well.

Mix the dry ingredients well and combine with the wet ingredients. Add the raisins and mix into the batter. Pour into greased loaf pans.

Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. (Check after 35 minutes or so. I found that the top had started to brown while the rest of the loaf needed some more time. Cover loosely with foil at this stage.)

Cool the loaves. Poke a couple of holes on the surface of the bread. Drizzle the glaze and spread all over.


This is a really good bread/cake to have along with a hot cup of tea or even as an after-dinner treat when you are craving something sweet. We simply loved it and I am definitely going to make this again and again.

Nicole, thanks a ton for the recipe!

Pineapple Pulissery (Pineapple in a yogurt and coconut gravy)

Pulissery is a sweet and sour yogurt based Kerala preparation that is regularly made at home. It has been one of my favorites since childhood. It can be made using a couple of different fruits. My mother makes the best pulissery ever, and she does it usually with ripe mangoes or pineapple. She does make it with plantains too, though I do not care much for that version.

This is how I make pineapple pulissery…
Ingredients:
1 20oz can of pineapple chunks, drained (Fresh would definitely be better and sweeter)
½ tsp turmeric powder
5-6 curry leaves

Salt
1 ½ cups yogurt, whipped nicely (Ideally, sour curd should be used. I used some yogurt that I had bought at the Indian store, but it still wasn’t sour enough.)

To be ground to a fine paste:
4-5 Tbsp grated coconut (I used frozen)
½ tsp cumin seeds
5-6 red chillies

For the seasoning:
1 Tbsp coconut oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp fenugreek (methi) seeds
A pinch of asafoetida(hing)
2-3 red chillies
3-4 curry leaves

Method:
Cook the pineapple cubes along with some curry leaves, salt and turmeric powder in a little bit of water on medium heat till the pineapple pieces turn soft.

Add the ground paste of coconut, cumin and red chillies to the cooked pineapple and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes.

Turn down the heat and add the yogurt. Mix well and turn off the heat. (This is important as the whole thing starts to curdle with too much heat…not a pretty sight!)

Heat the oil in a pan and add the ingredients for the seasoning. Add to
puliserry.

Serve with steaming hot rice,

thoran and pappadams.


Other Kerala style preparations on this blog -
Vegetable Stew
Ulli Chutney (Onion Chutney)
Pazham Pori (Plantain Fritters)
Instant Dosa with Sambar and Chutney
Kaya Thoran( Raw Banana stir fry)
Kale Thoran (a stir fry with Kale)


This is being sent to Jyothsna of Currybazaar who is hosting RCI: Cuisine of Kerala.

Mixed Vegetable and Soya Rice with a tomatoey raita

Mixed Vegetable and Soya Rice

I made this over the weekend to use up all the small bits and pieces of vegetables languishing in my refrigerator. Since we are big rice-eaters, I always have some rice sitting in the refrigerator. I prefer to use rice which is at least a day or two old for such recipes as each grain of rice remains firm and manages to retain its identity. In addition to the vegetables, I also threw in some soya granules (textured soy protein). Since we are vegetarians, I always look for ways to incorporate this in our meals whenever possible as it adds to the nutritive content of any dish.
Ingredients:
3 cups cooked Basmati rice
1 small onion, chopped
2 spring onions (scallions), chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 potato, chopped finely
½ cup lima beans
1 cup Soya granules (soak in some warm water for about 10 minutes, squeeze, wash, squeeze again and use)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1tsp ginger paste
1tsp garlic paste
½ tsp chilli powder
2 tsp garam masala
1 Tbsp oil
Salt to taste

Method:
Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds followed by the onions, spring onions and ginger garlic paste. Sauté for a bit till the onions turn translucent.

Add the finely chopped potato, lima beans and chopped tomatoes and cook for 2 -3 minutes.

Add the chilli powder and garam masala followed by the soya granules. Cover and cook on medium heat for 5-7 minutes allowing the soya to absorb all the flavors.

Stir in the cooked rice and mix everything well.

Serve hot with a raita.

Tomatoey Raita

Ingredients:

2-3 cups yogurt, whipped/beaten
1 ½ Tbsp tomato paste
½ cup onion, very thinly chopped
4 green chillies, thinly chopped
Salt to taste.

Method:
Blend the tomato paste into the yogurt.
Add all the other ingredients.
Chill and serve.

This is my entry for

JFI -Rice being hosted by Sharmi of Neivedyam.