SEEKH STYLE LAMB KEBABS - A GUEST POST WITH CHEF DENNIS!!!

Hey world!! Checkout my Seekh style Kebabs with fresh pom sauce being served at "More than a MountFull" under the watchful eyes of Chef Dennis on Friday!!

Hehehe....you guessed it, I am doing a guest post for Chef Dennis on his blog thats called “More Than A Mountfull”. I am sure most of you know him. But for those of you who don’t, he is a professional chef, director of dinning services at Mount Saint Joseph Academy in Flourtown, Pa and helluva fellow foodieJ! You wanna know something about food, foodbuzz, photos, blogging or anything related, mail him and he’ll surely get back to you.

And once more thanx chef for the invitation and I am truly honouredJ!!

Purple Pickled & Stir Fried Salad!!

A salad for the soul!! Perfect, when paired with some grilled meat J Favoloso!!! (err....correct me if my language is wrong).

This post is a dedication to all our fellow beings hit by the catastrophic Tsunami in Japan. It’s devastating to see one of the world’s largest economies struggling to get life back to normal. How that shows even the best in the world won’t be able to resist nature’s fury! Therefore, guys lets pledge to take care of nature, so she would be more kind to usJ. All my foodie friends in Japan, I hope you guys get over the hard phase of life soon!

I love cabbage in my salad....but this was the first time with red cabbage...it’s nice...Adds a lot of colour to your salad without much variation in taste.

Some other day, I’ll post a lean chicken burger recipe where this salad could be used instead of the regular slaw.

The dressing is optional....it’s nice when you simply toss everything together. Vinaigrette results from excess juices of the cabbage and oil from the stir fried broccoli. And btw, this dressing is great with just some grated carrots and sliced cucumbers. The celery leaves add an amazingly fresh taste, so make sure you use them.

So what you see above happened when I tossed the salad and splattered the dressing all over J and if you look beneath that’s how I ate it. I did add some extra grated carrot to it. That adds a nice sweetness.

ROASTED GARLIC & RED CHILI PEPPER DIP WITH SWEET POTATO FRIES - Healthy in every way!!

Remember, I told you to watch out for the next post if you want accompaniments for the fried green tomatoesJ. Well, here it is - Roasted garlic and Anaheim pepper dip. This is the ones you call “one of a kind” guys!!

It’s the best, healthiest and tastiest substitute I have found for mayonnaise. Call it sauce, dip, chutney or whatever you want...use it with burgers, fries, tortillas, grills, sandwiches or even simply spread some on a piece of pita and chomp off!!

Did you know chilli peppers when consumed moderately had terrific health benefits? Capsaicin- a phytochemical in chilli peppers helps fight cancer, control cholesterol levels and even reduce weight!!

Measured for heat in Scoville Heat Scale Unit (SHU), good ol’bell peppers are said to be least hot at Zero SHU while an Indian chilli pepper called Naga Viper Pepper measures 1,382,118SHU. Just so that you know how hot that is the Jalapeño peppers reach a maximum of 8,000SHU only!!! Now, how hot is that!!!

Facts for the day are finishedJ.

Back to our recipe....about the sweet potato fries- these are the yellow/whitish variety of sweet potato and not the orange ones. Never, try to bake them on a foil, I promise you that they will stick to it!! So always use a slightly greased and floured non-stick baking tray.

The dip can be refrigerated for up to 2 days in an airtight container. I haven’t tried more than that, so that’s how much shelf life I can guarantee you!

Don’t get scared by the amount of garlic being used, its perfect when blended with the yogurt. If you reduce the amount, it won’t taste as good. So, just follow the recipe tightly J

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES WITH BROCCOLI TREES!!

My mom’s garden has tons of tomatoes this season.....and since I am home on a short vaccation...there was absolutely no need to search for inspiration to make these. All I had to do was look out of the window!!

But, before I get on with the recipe, I would like to thank Elisabeth of food and thrift finds for the “sisterhood of world bloggers award” or the Angel award as she calls it. Ah! I am sure all of you know Elisabeth...I still haven’t grown enough to talk about her blog, so go check it out all by yourself and let her know Mj of Cardamom Hills send you thereJ.

The next heart filled thank you goes out to Brooks Walker of Cakewalker fame for the “Stylish blogger award” who has amazing cakes whipping up every time you visit his space. So go on Baker-bloggers, this one’s for you!

Now, coming back to our fried green tomatoes....I made these with garden fresh tomatoes. While, picking you green babies, make sure to take the bigger ones that are evenly green and not whitish. The smaller or whitish ones tend to be bitter. Otherwise there is nothing difficult about these fritters.

And about the silly broccoli florets sticking out, it was a part of my lousy attempt to create some fancy green fritters. But, I have to tell you, they taste rocking with the tomatoes, especially because they become a little chew after pan-searing.

If you look closely at the picture, you could see a few streaks of orange here and there, those are ripe green chillies that I sliced up and mixed with the bread crumbsJ. Doesn’t matter, use the regular green chilli paste or pepper if you like light seasoning.

CHICKEN ROULADE WITH FENNEL FILLING & RICOTTA SAUCE

“Roulade” makes me feel faaancy to call my chicken like that J hehehe....for those of you who don’t know what that is - its simply stuffed chicken breast that is rolled and cooked!! What I have done for my little experiment is slice it and dip it in a ricotta cheese sauce...after all, my love for cheese is not unknown to any of you J.

Having said all that, I have to say, I had lot of fun creating this recipe! I knew what I was going to do for the roulade but the sauce was totally out of the blues and an instant whip up. After making everything, we were so keen on tasting that I forgot to puree the sauce!! When I said we, I mean my mom and brothers...they were all there, waiting for me to finish taking the pictures, so they could just dive in. By the time I finished taking my clicks and got back to the kitchen counter - the sauce pan, leftover filling and rest of the roulade was wiped clean!!! Cooking for family soup for the soul when you know they love what you made.

Food for thought, I’ll leave you with a funny but well said quote I happened to come across today:

“Rich, fatty foods are like destiny: they too, shape our ends.” - Author Unknown