Learn with recipes

This week I will be posting the dishes, which I have been making for the past few weeks for my husband (a part of his weight loss plan and he has lost more 20 pounds so far…so I guess my dishes seem to work :). My next 2 recipes are also in the same combination of lentils and whole grains. Meals or soup like these, especially the combination of whole grains with lentils and vegetables are filling and healthy too and doesn’t make us miss out on our favorite foods. The soup recipe I have posted here is more or less sambar rice we make, but a little bit on the healthier side with lots of veggies and brown rice. This makes a complete meal by itself with a salad on side. I used a pressure cooker to cook the soup for fast cooking. This can be done on stove top too, it takes a little longer to cook the lentils this way but the taste is the same.

INGREDIENTS:

1. Lentils like green lentils, or masoor or moong dhal ½ cup.

2. Brown rice, ½ cup.

3. Onion, medium size, 1.

4. Diced tomatoes (fresh or canned), ½ cup.

5. Mixed vegetables, chopped into small pieces, 1 cup.

6. Cumin seeds, 1 tablespoon.

7. Coriander seeds, 1 tablespoon.

8. Salt and pepper as per taste.

9. Mixture of dry herbs, 1 tablespoon.

10. Garlic, 2 cloves.

11. Any seasoning mixture, 1 teaspoon.

12. Vegetable broth or tomato juice, 1 cup ( I sometimes use V8 tomato and vegetable soups, this gives a nice color to the soup and increases the veggie servings too).

PREPARATION:

Grind the cumin seeds and coriander seeds and keep aside. Dice the onion finely and crush the garlic coarsely. Heat a pressure pan or cooker with some oil. Add the diced onions when the oil turns hot and sauté for a few minutes until they turn brown. Add the canned tomatoes along with the veggies, crushed garlic, lentils, 3 cups of water, broth or tomato juice, salt and pepper and mix everything well. Cook for up to 3 whistles and let the pressure down. Add the ground powders and dry herbs now and mix everything well. Ladle hot soups into bowls and enjoy with a dollop of sour cream or nonfat yogurt on top.

A lighter version of the same soup made next week and served with salad.

Rice usili is a classic dish prepared by my grandma for our lunch boxes when we were kids. I had completely forgotten about this until my mom reminded me of this when we were online. Rice or arisi usili is usually prepared with rice and any type of dhal. This dish is a combination between upma and pongal. The dhal will be still whole and gives a good texture to the whole dish. The seasonings used here are also very simple ones. I am not sure where this dish is from. When I asked my mom about this, even she was not sure about this. If anybody is familiar with arisi usili, please share your thoughts and memories in this post friends. I have followed my grandma’s exact recipe here except that I substituted the rice with cracked wheat.

Coming on to my recipe, I made a lighter version of this dish with cracked wheat. This was equally delicious and comforting as the original one. I had tried this for the first time last week when my hubby was away on a business trip. That day I had this meen kuzumbu. The next day, I had prepared kathrikai kothsu to go along with this and we had it for breakfast. My hubby loved this very much and in fact he had finished off the whole thing. I cooked the usili in rice cooker. Rice cooker cooking makes the usili very fluffy when compared to cooking in pressure cooker, so here is my next recipe in my diet series. This combination of lentils and whole grains is also awesome :)

INGREDIENTS:

1. Cracked wheat, 1 cup, (fine rava wont work so well here, I have used a little bit bigger variety, this can be substituted with bulgur wheat).

2. Toor dhal or moong dhal, ½ cup.

3. Whole pepper corns, ¼ teaspoon.

4. Cumin seeds, ½ teaspoon.

5. Red chilies, 1-2, can be left whole or broken.

6. Curry leaves, a sprig.

7. Salt as per taste.

PREPARATION:

Wash the lentils well and cook them until they are done half way through. The lentils should still be whole. I cooked mine in the microwave. I cooked the dhal for 15 minutes with just enough water to cover the lentils. When cooking the dhal in the microwave, add a drop of oil to prevent the water from boiling over. Drain the water from the dhal and add it the cracked wheat. Transfer the contents to an electric rice cooker, add ½ teaspoon of salt, and 2 cups of water and cook until they are done. The cracked wheat can also be cooked on stove top also under medium flame, stirring in between until it is dry. Heat a small pan with some oil. Add the seasonings one by one and fry for a few seconds until good smell emanates from them. Pour the seasonings over the usili and mix everything well. Serve hot with any side dish like sambar, kothsu, or chutney.

In-Home Cooking Classes and Culinary Guidance with Chef John (In the Flesh)

While I’m still trying to launch a video-based, online cooking academy (see details below), I am also starting to offer in-home, personalized culinary instruction for those of you that live in the San Francisco Bay Area. If you are interested in having me come to your home to teach you to cook personally, just click on this link, send me an email with what you want to learn and I will contact you to set up a class. By the way, if you are not from the Bay Area, but are filthy rich, and can fly me to your location, I am also available.

If you think the recipe clips I post are fun, and enjoy my style of cooking and sense of humor, then I think you will have a great time cooking side-by-side with me. If you haven’t already, check out my personal bio; while teaching at the California Culinary Academy, I enjoyed a reputation as one of the most popular instructors there, and have always considered myself a very effective teacher, no matter what your skill level. You will also get to see how closely I resemble the photo of George Clooney I use for my online persona.

One last note regarding the one-on-one cooking classes; if you are trying to lose weight and get in better shape the most important thing you can do for yourself is learn how to cook fresh, healthy food at home. If you are in one of those programs where they deliver that over-priced, pre-packaged food then we should talk. You can easily make all those same dishes for a fraction of the cost, and the taste and quality will be far superior.

• We do not have a cost yet, but to give you a frame of reference, it will cost significantly less than a traditional culinary school, which can cost up as much as $50,000 per year! My hope is to keep it under $500 for the entire course.
  
  
• You will learn the exact same competencies taught at these traditional academies. There are basically a few dozen KEY skills, recipes, and techniques to master. Really, that’s all! Most of the time spent in a traditional culinary school is NOT spent on learning these KEY skills.
  
  
• The complete course should take 2 months for you to master. But, all students will have as much time as they need since everyone learns at a different speed.
  
  
• You will learn by following my lessons and lectures online, and then will have “home work” to perfect these skills. Did you know that in the larger culinary schools students actually watch the Chef’s demos on a TV screen since they can’t sit close enough to watch what’s being demonstrated!
  
  
• You will have the option of just learning the skills, or actually submitting your final competencies via video clips for us to evaluate. We will also have written tests for you to take to test you on the same basic information that a traditional culinary school student is expected to know when they graduate. These tests and home work are optional, but would be required to receive a certificate of culinary competency.
  
  
• All students completing this course successfully will receive a certificate of culinary competency.
  
  
• In addition, all students will get free resume and career assistance if they plan on using these newly acquired skills to enter the culinary industry as a cook or chef. Before I taught at the culinary academy, I ran a resume service for food industry workers, and I’m an expert in that field. If you want an entry-level job in food, this course will make that happen.
  


• That’s all the basic info we have for now. We are taking our time to ensure a top quality product and have several Chefs, that currently teach at major traditional culinary schools, helping us put this program together.
  
  
  If you are interested in being contacted when the course is ready, please contact me. If youve already contacted me, its not necessary to contact me again.