Grilled eggplant with tomatoes and cheese and a new home

A quick post this time - I’m moving today and lots of boxes surround me right now.

If you like veggies, please, make this dish. It couldn’t be simpler and the flavors are so good. Serve it with some crusty bread and you’ve got yourself a meal.



Grilled eggplant with tomatoes and cheese
inspired by a recipe from Family Food

2 eggplants, sliced
1/3 cup (80ml) olive oil*
salt and freshly

Spiced Urad Dal Rice

Rather more than just a side dish, this spicy fragrant South Indian rice is full-flavoured and delectable enough to be the centerpiece of a meal. The preparation's timing is somewhat involving, demanding soaking of ingredients both the night before and several hours prior to cooking as given in the recipe below, but the vigilance is well worth it not only for the taste but for the pungent aroma of dry toasted seeds and peppercorns that lingers in the kitchen for hours afterwards. And the actual cooking is quite straightforward and simple and takes little time.

Taken from Chandra Padmanabhan's delightful Dakshin with a few minor modifications for taste or ingredient availability, I served this rice with a mild, cooling and lightly spiced yogurt with chickpeas and tomatoes to balance its heat and make a delightful meal.

Spiced urad dal rice

1 cup basmati rice
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup raw cashews, halved lengthwise
1 tablespoon urad dal
1 tablespoon chana dal
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
8 dried curry leaves
4 hot thai chilies, slit down one side to expose the seeds
1/2 teaspoon asafoetida powder
2 hot green chilies, seeded and diced
1 teaspoon sea salt

Dry masala:

2 tablespoons urad dal
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons dried flaked coconut
1 1/2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns

As preparation the night before making the rice, rinse one tablespoon each of the urad dal and chana dal under cold running water and soak for 1 hour under cold water in a bowl. Rinse and soak the 2 tablespoons of urad dal for the dry masala in the same way in a separate bowl. Drain each bowl of dal and leave to air dry overnight in separate strainers.

At the same time, or at least a few hours before cooking, rinse the rice under cold running water and let air dry in a strainer, shaking the rice once in a while to bring the moist grains to the surface.

Heat a small frying pan over medium heat and toss in the dried urad dal for the dry masala along with the sesame seeds, coconut and black peppercorns. Dry roast the ingredients while stirring until the urad dal is nicely browned, about 5 minutes. Remove to an electric grinder or small food processor and process to a fine powder. Set aside.

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. As soon as the water comes to a boil, add the now dry rice and immediately turn down the heat to low and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Cook undisturbed for exactly 15 minutes, without lifting the lid. Remove from heat and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat one tablespoon of the olive oil in a 9- or 10-inch frying pan over just less than medium heat. Toss in the cashews and stir-fry until browned to your liking. Remove with a slotted spatula and set aside.

Return the pan to the stove, turn up the heat to medium, and add the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil as well as the butter. Add the dried urad dal and chana dal as well as the brown mustard seeds, curry leaves, and thai peppers. Stir once, then toss in the asafoetida and continue to stir until the brown mustard seeds begin to sputter. Add the green chilies and sauté for 2 more minutes.

Remove the thai chilies to set aside for garnish, and stir the contents of the pan into the warm rice. Add the salt and the dry masala and combine well.

Serve on a warm plate garnished with the thai chilies. Serves 4 to 6.

Lemon poppy seed cookies... And no poppy seeds in Brazil

After posting this cake, I received several emails and comments from people here in Brazil asking me where I had bought poppy seeds, because they couldn’t find the seeds anywhere. I had no idea there was something going on – I had purchased the package a while before that.I call the store I usually buy spices from and the employee told me that poppy seeds had been forbidden in Brazil for a while;

Kidney Bean Salad

Food, just like life, is best served up light and easy in the summertime. This colourful kidney bean salad is easy to make, packs plenty of vitamins, minerals and easy-to-digest proteins, and has a laid-back spicy zest that goes well with a glass of red wine or a cold beer.

Kidney bean salad

Salad:

1 1/4 cups dried red kidney beans
1 cucumber, diced
2 large tomatoes, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
2 large jalapeño peppers, finely diced
2 green onions, sliced

Dressing:

1/2 cup rice wine or apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon chili powder

Soak the beans overnight in a large pot of water and a teaspoon of yoghurt whey or lemon juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cover, cooking for 1 hour or until the beans are tender but still firm.

Combine the salad ingredients in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Pour over the salad and toss. Chill for 1 hour before serving.

I'm sending this along to Archana, who is hosting an event focusing on one dish meals that are high in protein. The theme this month is salads.

Cinnamon French toast

I love breakfast food. In a perfect world, people should be able to eat pancakes, waffles, muffins and bread all through the day. :)

This was the first time I tried french toast, though. We do eat something really similar here in Brazil, called rabanada, but it’s usually prepared around Christmas time and it’s not a daily breakfast meal for us. It’s equally delicious: the bread is soaked in a

No Croutons Required - Dressing

The winner for July's Herb Challenge is Jackie Vetter who made a hearty Peasant Soup with savory. Congratulations to Jackie who faced some tough competition this month.

It is my turn to host this month's edition of No Croutons Required, a monthly vegetarian event focusing on soups and salads.

Many thanks to Ricki for commenting on my Creamy Sesame Miso Salad Dressing, as she suggested dressings should be the theme for August and so it shall be. Make any dressing and post about it until the 20th of this month, including a description of what you dressed up. Submission guidelines can be found here.

Waiter, there's something in my... picnic! Olive, herb and parmesan sticks

I haven’t taken part in blog events lately – I never seem to keep the deadlines in mind – but picnics are something I hold very dear and they are the theme for this “Waiter, there’s something in my...”, hosted by Johanna, Jeanne and Andrew.

When I was little, my parents used to take me and my brother to parks on the weekends, and we had wonderful picnics there (I once wrote about it here). To