Quinoa in peppers - A yellow tribute to Barbara Harris

I have heard and read much about cancer through a cousin who is a dedicated oncologist, but not witnessed the trauma with someone in the immediate or next extended family. Cases of distant relatives or some friends of someone would be discussed. That is about it.
It is not easy to write anything about someone you did not know but through her posts, but it does sadden you when you are aware that you will not be interacting with this person anymore however much you desire. Barbara Harris was one such blogger whose posts I read through, but never interacted. All I can say is that she has been very courageous through her battle against her cancer and did not decide to let go easily. She has through her blog created awareness towards and for  the many who are battling yet.
In tribute to the departed, this month's Monthly Mingle is dedicated to A Taste of  Yellow and is hosted by Jeanne of Cook Sister in line with Barbara's popular 2007,  LiveStrong with a Taste of Yellow event. This would be my entry to the same.

I had read the many benefits of quinoa (pronounced as keen-wah) the wonder grain when looking up whole grains and through many bloggers who create fabulous dishes with the same. I was hoping that I might find the grain sometime and try cooking the same. I picked up a small packet from one of the superstores in my daughter's town. Yet I was very apprehensive to cook it for there was so much said about the nutty flavour it imparts and the chewiness and so on.
I kept reading more about the health benefits and decided that I shall try a simple recipe to sample our acceptance. And wonder of wonders that one store in my city had stocked organic quinoa and the cooking instructions were simple. That was all I needed to get my motivation, and even more wonder is that both my husband and myself liked it so much that I am off to the store to pick up the two lone packs in the aisle lest they bring more stock!

My husband would have shunned if I made a salad as I would with couscous; I did not want to use it in dosa or pancake for the reason I had to taste the grain as is and not adding it in some form where I might mask the taste. Thus I cooked the quinoa as instructed on the pack and added just vegetables to it with mild and necessary flavours with salt. I retained the lower half of the peppers and filled the quinoa along with the vegetables and put it in the oven to just grill. That was our lunch on the weekend and I must say that it was sumptuously filling.

My yellow and coloured peppers with their quinoa vegetable filling are for the Taste of Yellow Mingle.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup quinoa
6 bell peppers of different colours
4 teaspoons cooking oil
1 carrot sliced fine
5 french beans cut fine
1 red onion chopped
2 pieces cloves
1/2"piece cinnamon
1"piece ginger (juliennes)
Salt to taste
One tomato chopped  for garnish

Method:
Wash the quinoa well. I had to do just one rinsing as the pack instructed so.
Add 1 cup (plus more if needed) of water to the quinoa and bring to a boil. Cook cover on simmering heat until the water is absorbed, the grain is soft and translucent and the germinating ring forms around  the grain. 
Cut the bell peppers in half, clean the seeds and retain the lower half in tact. Cut the other halves in small cubes. Also keep ready the chopped onions and other vegetables.

Heat 2 teaspoons cooking oil in a pan and add the cloves, cinnamon and ginger juliennes. Toss them for a few seconds and then add the onions. Sauté until the onions are soft and add the vegetables. Sprinkle a few teaspoons of water and cook the vegetables for a few minutes. They should still be crunchy. Add the salt and mix the cooked quinoa in. The filling is ready.
Meanwhile pre - heat the grill to a high temperature.
Heat some water in a wide utensil and drop the halves of peppers for about half a minute. Drain the water and brush the outer surface of these peppers with the remaining oil.
Fill these with the quinoa filling and arrange on a dish.
Grill on a hot grill for 12 to 15 minutes.
Serve garnished with the tomatoes and a few slices of carrots.
We enjoyed our peppers much and now I am willing to try other options with the grain.

 Note:
I have not added any cheese or peas as the quinoa is a high protein by itself.
The options are limitless if you like to add more vegetables or flavours.

Godhumai Pradhaman

Payasam is the simplest sweet dessert often made in any hindu household to celebrate special occasions. Today was my daughter's birthday, according to the Hindu calender. I made this godhumai pradhaman just so we have celebrated. With her away from home, we did not have a reason for a big celebration.
I have read the recipes Jayasree (godhumai pradhaman) and Madhuri (godhi pradhaman) shared in their respective spaces on earlier occasions and formed the idea. I chose to use up whole wheat kernels in my pantry and it was one of the very delicious, creamy dessert treats I have ever made. It is hard not to share the recipe.
Just with three key ingredients and a cooking time of little over 45 minutes, you can treat yourself to a lip smacking delicacy. I added powdered dry ginger (sukku podi) for the flavour.

Ingredients: (measures are 200 ml cup, in this recipe)

1/3 cup whole wheat berries
3/4 cup powdered jaggery
1 cup freshly squeezed thick coconut milk / store bought ready made coconut milk
1 teaspoon powdered dry ginger
1 teaspoon powdered green cardamom
(though you may cut some coconut pieces, roast them well in 1 teaspoon ghee and add to the pradhaman for garnish, I have not done so, simply because I did not have enough coconut)




Method:
Pick and clean the whole wheat berries and remove impurities such as some husk and stones, if any.
Rinse in water a few times. Soak the wheat berries in hot water for about 20 minutes.
Dissolve the jaggery in one cup of warm water, strain the impurities and keep aside.
Pressure cook the soaked wheat kernels until soft but still chewy. It took 5 whistles in my pressure cooker, say about 17 minutes.
Once cooked, drain the excess water, allow to cool and pulse in a mixer to a coarse texture. This grinding can be skipped if you like the whole berries as such.
While the wheat is being cooked, take the dissolved jaggery in a heavy bottomed pan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 - 12 minutes until the raw flavour subsides.
When both are ready, add the wheat berries to the jaggery syrup. Cook for few minutes until well blended.
Pour the coconut milk and simmer on the lowest of the heat for another 10 minutes.




Remove from the stove, add the cardamom and dried ginger powders and serve. Hot, cold or at room temperature, it tastes divine all the same.

Whole wheat adai dosai

Few days ago, Viji who writes Vcuisine blog had shared a recipe for the appams using whole wheat kernels. The appams were very soft and porous and I had book marked the recipe.
I had whole wheat kernels on hand and wanted to use those up. I was curious as to how the whole wheat will alter the texture. I thought that would be glutinous owing to the wheat. She clarified that and also mailed in detail as to how long she soaked the wheat and such.
I tried them soon after and found that we liked them very much. That evening, I had some of the batter left over.That quantity would not suffice to make enough numbers of appams and so I used it to make dosais. The dosais were very soft too. Since we like such dosais as much as the crisp ones, I decided to give the whole wheat a try in other recipes such as adai.
I had powdered pearl barley for some other dish. The excess of that powder had to be used up too.
So I ventured to make adai with whole wheat, barley and legumes. I have some sorghum also in the pantry to be cleared, so that goes into this adai as well. With barley, wheat and sorghum (vellai sOlam), I did not add any rice. It is purely optional to use barley and sorghum. You may add rice with the whole wheat and not add any of these. Also if you have fresh coconut, adding that would enhance the taste.
The adai was as good as the ones we make with soaking and grinding rice, as soft and very delectable.

Ingredients:
1/3rd cup whole wheat kernels ( I used samba godhumai)
1/4 cup (powdered) pearl barley flour
1/4 cup sorghum cereal
1/4 cup split urad dhal
1/4 cup moong dhal
1/4 cup channa dhal
1/4 cup thuvar dhal
5 dry red chillis
Salt as required
few teaspoons oil for cooking the adai

Method:
Place all of the four dhals in a bowl. Wash well and add some water to soak them.
Take the whole wheat kernels and the sorghum in a bowl. Wash to remove impurities and soak them in some water.
After few hours of soaking, grind the wheat and sorghum in a blender. Half way through, add the soaked dhals and red chillis. Grind all of these together to a coarse batter.
Transfer from the blender to a bowl. Mix the powdered pearl barley and salt to the batter.
The batter can be used up to make pan cakes soon after. However, you can allow the batter to ferment also, like how I prefer to do.



Place the flat pan, griddle or tawa on the stove. When the pan is hot, give the batter a stir and pour out a generous amount of batter on the pan. Spread lightly to a 1/4 inch thick, 6 inch wide, circular pan cake. Spoon some oil over and around the circumference of the adai.
Allow to cook well and flip to the other side. Cook this side also well and remove from the pan.
Serve these hot with any chutney of choice.
Eating this with jaggery and a blob of butter is the best way to indulge.

Siri's Healing foods event is being hosted by Simona of Briciole, the theme of the month being Whole grains. These are sent to the same.