Corn and Black Bean Salad

Happy Deepavali to all my readers! Diwali starts tomorrow (at least for us Kannadigas). But in the community we live in, the celebrations have been ongoing since the past 3 days. Houses, trees and the gates all beautifully lit up. Many activities involving mainly kids and women. Last night saw a beautiful cultural program by the kids followed by a lovely catered dinner. With N not being in town and logistics not supporting us heading off to Mysore, I thought the festival this time was going to be quite dull for us. But with so many activities, dinner & lunch invitations and shopping meet ups, I think we will do quite alright! :)

Take a peek here to see at how it is traditionally celebrated by our community.

The salad here has quite often been my lunch. Filling and nutritious and with a killer cumin dressing, absolutely delicious too. I've mentioned this salad before but here it is with the recipe for Susan's event My Legume Love Affair or MLLA, hosted by Suma of Veggie Platter for it's 40th edition. Thank you both!



Recipe Source

Ingredients:

1 cup corn (canned or boiled)
1 cup black bean, canned or cooked (can be subbed with any other kind of bean - pinto, kidney etc)
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 medium tomato, chopped small
1-2 tbsp, chopped cilantro
salt for seasoning

For the dressing:
1 tbsp olive oil (or any other oil per your liking)
1 tsp mustard
1 tbsp vinegar (sherry, red wine or plain white)
Juice of half a lemon
1 heaped tsp cumin powder

Method:
If using fresh corn kernels, cook them in boiling water until tender or use a pressure cooker.
If using dry beans soak overnight and pressure cook until tender.
Whisk together the ingredients listed for the cumin dressing.
In a salad bowl, stir together the corn, beans, tomato, onion and chopped cilantro.
Pour over the salad and toss well.

For Jayasree

A few days ago, the Indian food blogging world woke up to the shocking news of the sudden demise of one of our own - Jayasree from My Experiments in Kailas Kitchen. The food blogging universe is very large and it is impossible to know everyone. But there are many friendships formed, many words of encouragement written and many advice seeking and giving happening here. Jayasree & I would comment on each others posts every once in a while and she was always so positive and happy even in her comments. Her blog features recipes from her community as well as dishes from various other Indian cuisines. She always mentioned the source of her recipes when they were not her own. A forthright and positive person, whom I had the pleasure of associating with, however fleetingly.

In her honor, I have recreated two dishes from her blog.



Thakkali Sadam
Capsicum Zunka

She will be surely missed by all of us, her fellow bloggers and her many readers. May God give strength to her family to bear such a huge loss. RIP, dear Jayasree.

Moolangi Gojju (Radish Curry)

Have you ever thought of how Facebook has changed our lives? It is a great way of staying in touch with people without too much effort. Thanks to FB, I'm now connected to folks from so long ago that I'd forgotten they'd existed! Reconnected with good friends that I'd lost contact with. Feel a sense of closeness to relatives & acquaintances that I'd never kept in touch with before, thanks to their updates and their interest in mine. And birthdays made all the more special because of wishes from people who would otherwise not know. Not to forget, all the blogger buddies who I've gotten to know better through FB. Of course, FB has been a pain in some ways too, but that is for another post :)

One such re-connection happened with a classmate of mine from school. I was doubly happy to know she is a foodie, with a recipe website to boot. Now gojjus are a favorite at home. I make them with anything and everything (apple, for example) and use many different combinations of ingredients for the masala. I tried her version of radish gojju, made with mustard seeds and methi. Followed the recipe almost to the tee, with a few minor changes according to my taste. Loved the heady pungence the combination of radish and mustard seeds bring. Here is how I made it.



Ingredients:

3-4 long radishes, peeled and sliced into circles
1/2 tsp tamarind paste
2 tsp jaggery, shredded
salt to taste
Masala:
2 tbsp coconut shreds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp methi seeds
2-3 red chilies
asafoetida
1/2 tsp oil for frying
Tadka:
mustard seeds, urad dal, hing, curry leaves, turmeric, oil

Method:

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat 1 tsp oil. Add mustard seeds. Once they start to pop, add the urad dal and hing. Then the curry leaves.
Add the cut radish pieces, season with salt and add 1.5 cups of water. Cover and cook on low until soft.
In the meantime, get the masala ready. Roast the methi seeds and red chilies in a bit of oil. Grind it to a smooth paste along with the remaining ingredients.
Once the radish is cooked, stir in the ground masala. Add tamarind and jaggery. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Boil the gojju for 5 minutes.
Serve with rice.

Be sure to check the original recipe here. And while there, check out her website for some traditional fare, including hittina holige (which I must confess, I had not heard of at all!). Thanks, Savitha for this recipe.