Sandwich with roasted bell peppers, eggplant and zucchini

I love to try new cuisines. Over the years in US, I have grown to love italian, american, mexican and thai cuisines. It was totally not the case when I first went to restaurants here.

I was petrified seeing the super sized plates filled with unknown flavours. Mexican platters used to be my nightmare. Ravi loves mexican so he was excited to take me to mexican restaurants and introduce the cuisine to me but the strings of chicken in the guey cheese sauce with blood red sauce made be feel puky - just seeing the enchiladas. Ravi had this novel idea of not sharing food - his justification was he ended up eating more because I made him eat my order and his too. So I felt sooo guilty for wasting food but there was noooo way I could finish them.

Over the years, the foodie in me emerged and I tried all food that came my way. But I never could try any of this at home. I have this strongg inhibition not to try anything beyond indian cooking at home. In all the six years I have tried thai curry twice, pasta twice.

But seeing other bloggers ace in international cuisines, I always had the urge to try them. Finally I broke out of my shell yesterday and set up a minimalistic italian-pantry. The first dish I tried is a sandwich with roasted bellpepper, roasted eggplant and roasted zucchini. If you are like me, its the perfect recipe to start.

Minimalistic italian pantry


Grilling peppers : Spread the slices of pepper srayed with olive oil on a aluminium foil and place them directly in the top most rack in the broiler mode for 7 to 9 minutes. Take it out into a paper bag and close the bag. After 10 minutes, peel the skin off.

Grilling eggplant and zucchini : Slice the veggies and sprinkle italian seasoning and brush balsamic vinegar and olive oil over the veggies and sprinkle black pepper. Grill/Bake in oven at 400 degree for 15 to 20 mins

I grilled the veggies over the weekend and refrigerated.

Oven grilled bellpepper


Eggplant, zucchini - dash of italian grilled seasoning, balsamic vinegar and olive oil


Assembling the sandwich :
Brush a side of the bread with the vinegar and olive oil. place slices of grilled veggies and top with mozarella cheese. Top with a slice of bread. Place the sandwich on a grill/pan and place a heavy weight and press. I placed my stone mortar over the sandwich. Leave it over medium heat for 6 minutes. Repeat on other side.

Grilled sandwich

The taste was simple and just the way I loved it. I could have used a better cheese -I bought kraft fat free mozarella - a huge mistake, it tasted like rubber. I have this sandwich for lunch from a sandwich shop and they use brie - it is sinfully tasty. Also I would have liked to have more balsamic vinegar.

Last weekend, seven bloggers from bay area met and we had a blast. The cooker is starting the sprint about the meet - Check this out

Malabar spinach - Bachalakoora - Another andhra delicacy

When I was preparing this dish today, it suddenly occurred to me why I had not blogged about this recipe.. It is in the top 5 of Ravi's favourites and a typical andhra preparation. These days I dont cook much for myself. Its either kichdi with some veggies or soup and veggies as I am trying to get on a diet. I am not forcing Ravi to do the diet thing with me - its a sheer torture for him given his work load and study load. I added a handful of spinach to my soup for lunch and prepared bachalakoora for him for dinner.

Greens are little heavier on the digestive system so at my home in India "No greens for dinner". I dont remember my mother ever serving any kind of greens for dinner. Naturally even now I refrain from eating greens at night.

This spinach preparation is very interesting. Usually the tamarind added to any curries is ripe ones but for this dish raw tamarind juice is added. Raw tamarind unlike the ripe ones cannot be deshelled. So it is crushed with the shell and made into a coarse paste with salt and stored. Just before using a tablespoon of the paste is diluted in water and the extracted juice is strained of any shells and added to the spinach curry.

Malabar spinach is the indian variety of spinach - very different from the actual spinach we get here in US. Its leaves are broader, thicker and slimy. The berries of malabar spinach are violet/indigo in color - we used to crush the berries and use it for April fools' day -

See here for the image and more information

Three cups chopped malabar spinach
Four green chillies chopped
half an onion chopped
Juice of one tablespoon raw tamarind paste (Optionally use regular tamarind paste )
Oil - 2 tbl
half cup - Boiled channa dal ( half boiled )
Turmeric half tsp
chilli powder two tsps
For seasoning - Mustard, cumin - half teaspoon each

Heat oil and when the oil is hot add mustard.
When the mustard splutters add cumin, green chillies and onions.
Saute for a few minutes.
Add chopped spinach and saute for 5 minutes. Spinach cooks in its own water.
Seperately boil half cup channa dal for 5 minutes
Strain the water from the channa dal and add the dal to the sauteing spinach
Add juice from the tamarind
Add salt, turmeric and chilli powder
Cover and cook until most of the water is absorbed.

Raw tamarind


Raw tamarind paste


Malabar spinach


Malabar spinach with Channa dal

Hash browns - Quick, nutritious breakfast

Potato is the most mistaken vegetable around. It seems to be considered as the ultimate enemy for dieters because of the greasy preparations made with it and the ever blamed carbohydrate content. French fries, mashed potatoes are loaded with carbs and fat. However if properly treated potatoes are one of the most nutritious veggies.

From wiki: Potatoes contain a number of important vitamins and minerals. A medium potato (150g/5.3 oz) with the skin provides 27 mg vitamin C (45% of the Daily Value (DV)), 620 mg of potassium (18% of DV), 0.2 mg vitamin B6 (10% of DV) and trace amounts of thiamin, riboflavin, folate, niacin, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, and zinc. Moreover, the fiber content of a potato with skin (2 grams) equals that of many whole grain breads, pastas, and cereals. In addition to vitamins, minerals and fiber, potatoes also contain an assortment of phytochemicals, such as carotenoids and polyphenols.

Hashbrown can be prepared without a drop of fat, thus giving us all the nutrients without the added grease. The ones I tried in restaurants were soaked in fat but it really does not need all that.

All good things are simple - Just shredded potatoes, salt and pepper and 15 minutes hashbrowns are ready.

did you know - The mature fruits of pototo plant are toxic !!!

Shredded potato

On the hot tawa


Spread and Pat with a spatula and allow to cook on medium flame.