Kid's Walnut-Butter Sandwich

This is something I make for myself when I am back from school. I think it is healthy and delicious. The walnuts and the peanuts make it perfect for nut-lovers. It is really simple, so kids could make it all by themselves. There is no stove involved, either.

Ingredients

-2 slices of bread
-About 1/3 cup of walnuts
- 1 teaspoon of Peanut Butter*

1. Take out the ingredients and lay the bread slices on a plate.

2. Pick your butter. Peanut butter or sunflower butter will be good choices.

3. Take 1 teaspoon of your butter. I took a little more so it is evenly spread.

4. Open the bread and put the butter inside. Make sure you spread it evenly.

5. This is how it should look now.

6. Take about 1/3 cup of walnuts.

7. Spread the walnuts evenly on the bread.**

8. Flatten the bread so that both sides stick. It is OK if the walnuts poke out of the bread.

Notes:

* If you are allergic to peanut butter, another option is sunflower butter.

** If the walnuts are too crunchy, you can grind them so they are a coarse powder.

Butternut Squash Skin and Walnut Chutney

And here is Ms. P with her counter ;)

Last fall I got this organic butternut squash from my local super market and my whole family took to it. I very eagerly washed and dried the seeds hoping to plant it in my own yard some day. This summer my DH decided he wanted to be a gardener in his spare time and my DD decided the only exciting thing to do this summer vacation was to be his helper. One of the first seeds we planted was off course the Butternut Squash. The plant took off well, grew and produced numerous yellow flowers. But finally only one flower successfully became a squash. Getting just one squash after seeing all those flowers was a sore disappointment. So I decided to make the best of that tiny squash. I used the flesh of the squash in sambar and saved the skin and the seeds from the center of the fruit. Both were quite tender and the seeds has not matured like in a very ripe squash. See the picture and you would understand.

Ingredients:

Walnuts  - 20

Hing – 1 teaspoon

Urud Dhal (whole white) – 6 tablespoons

Channa Dhal (yellow split) – 3 tablespoons

Grated coconut – ¾ cup

Tamarind – small lemon size

Red Chillies – 6

Skin and scrapings from inside the squash – 2 cups

Cooking oil – 4 tablespoons

Salt to taste

Note: Remember to clean the tamarind by removing the seeds and skin that may be stuck to it.

  

Seasoning:

Cooking oil – 1 talespoon

Mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon

Curry leaves – 5

How to:

In a skillet add the cooking oil. I prefer to use sesame/gingely oil as it adds a distinct flavor. When warm add the urud dhal and channa dhal and roast till golden brown. Then add the red chillies, butternut squash skin/scrapings and tamarind and keep roasting till you see the squash turning translucent. Do not roast on high heat as you may burn the ingredients. Remember dry roasting needs medium heat and a lot of patience. You can add a little salt, set the heat to low and close with a lid for a few minutes to get the squash cooked. Again be careful not to burn the ingredients. Then add the walnuts and coconut and roast till the grated coconut turns golden brown. Before turning off the stove add the hing and roast for a minute.

Let the mixture cool before you blend it in the mixer. When blending remember to check and add salt as needed. Season with mustard seeds and curry leaves. 

Veg Yellow Curry Fried Rice

This is from Ms. M. I love to eat and try other cuisines but being a vegetarian poses a lot limits when it comes to the ingredients being used. I came up with this recipe that suits my ingredient constraints after reading a lot of thai recipes and trial and error. Hope someone somewhere finds this useful!

Ingredients:

1 cup Jasmine rice cooked and cooled to room temperature
2 cloves of garlic and 2 green chilies crushed with a mortar and pestel
3 shallots sliced
1 12oz cube of firm tofu
2 cups mixed vegetables (green, yellow and red peppers, carrots, broccoli, peas, etc)
3 stalks of scallions chopped
2 stalks of cilantro chopped
3 tbsp curry powder
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Sriracha sauce
5 tbsp of olive oil
Salt to taste

Method:

Preparing the tofu:
I like to just sear the tofu instead of frying it.
Keep the tofu on a plate and put a heavy pan on it to get all the water to come out.
Then spray some oil on skillet and place the tofu and get a good sear on all the sides.
Spray oil on the tofu as needed.
Once all the sides seared then cut the tofu in rectangular strips and sear the cut sides.
Then cut it into smaller bite size rectangular pieces.

Making the fried rice:
In a wok add olive oil and when it is not too hot add the yellow curry powder and turn down the flame so its doesn't get burnt.
Then add in the garlic and chili paste followed by the shallots.
Once the shallots a little cooked add in the vegetables and little salt. Turn the heat on high and toss the vegetables so that they get cooked but don't get mushy.
When the vegetables are about 60% cooked add in the rice little by little while mixing in the rice.
Add the rest of the olive oil, sriracha sauce and soy sauce and continue to toss the rice and vegetables until everything is nicely mixed.
Turn off the heat and garnish with cilantro and scallions.

And this is how it all started...

We are the curry sisters, the Yin-Yang sisters, well we are biological sisters too - Ms P and Ms M.

We have collectively spent a lot of time on food blogs and excitedly shared links. Now we want to share our recipes with our friends out there who also love to cook. This blog is not to just record things that simmer on the stove but also anything that relates to food in our lives. There is no dish we cook the same. Well, we would both call it the same name as our mom did but have two very distinct flavors to our dishes.

And then there is our young chef, Ms. T., a middle schooler who loves to cook. You will also see her kid-friendly recipes here.

Hope you enjoy this blog as we open our homes and our kitches to share our ‘curry world’ with you...