Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Warm up with One Dish Meals

October's Blog Bites challenge was to look through your favorite blogs and try a recipe for a one dish meal. Here it is, a big dose of tasty comfort in six different categories. Please click through and read the entries and their sources of inspiration- you might find some terrific new blogs to follow.

The goodness of grains and beans can be the base for so many hearty one pot meals.

Anu makes Hawaiian-style chickpeas with harvest grain blend, a sweet-spicy combination so tasty that she swears they "could not get enough". And go and see for yourself if this is not the easiest recipe ever: marinate everything overnight, then fry in a wok and you have dinner.

Janet wants to feed us booger salad, with barbecued worms and muddy caterpillar hotdogs, but luckily ends up giving us a gorgeous bowl of bulgur and grape salad with nuts and cranberries instead. They say you eat with your eyes first, and this picture just filled me up.

Sharan declares that "we need to chaat" (yes, we absolutely do) and proceeds to assemble leftover sundal (dressed up lentils) with herbs, chutneys, onions, tomatoes and crunchy sev into an irresistible bowl of chaat.

Mimi's Mommy combines rice and sprouts and lots of fried onions to make mujadarah, and praises this Middle-Eastern dish saying, "I don’t know if I should praise the aroma of the ingredients more than the outcome or if I should praise how quick the dish is to make or how tasty and filling it is."

Rice is very nice, indeed, the grain that immediately comes to my mind when I think of comfort food. Plain rice can be dressed up with a infinite variety of spices and vegetables. Priya makes two mixed rice recipes, pepper rice and radish rice.

Boil water and cook up some pasta- add some vegetables and dress with a sauce or some cheese, and you have a one dish meal that can hold all the major food groups and then some.

Megha beats the heat and humidity of Mumbai by making a batch of summer vegetable pasta with pesto, with a tangy and rich almond sauce, vegetables and short pasta. 

Satya loves tiny shell pasta because it cooks up in no time and is perfect for kids. She uses plenty of vegetables to make a colorful platter of mini shell pasta with tomato basil sauce.

Suparna says that her family is not really a pasta-eating one, but she tries stuffed pasta for the first time in agnolotti with roasted red pepper sauce and is very happy with the results. 

A pot of stew bubbling away on the stove is a picture of domestic bliss and home-cooked love. 

Amruta packs in "proteins from the beans; carbs, vitamins and fibers from veggies and whole grain bread/pasta" and shares a recipe for one pot vegetable stew.

There is the dramatic moment when a heavy casserole is lifted out of the oven, when savory vapors envelope the kitchen and you just can't wait to dig in. Casseroles are a great way to use up ingredients and minimize waste by being forgiving in terms of what can go into them.

As Shobana says, she started with an inspiring recipe, and then "halved, changed, added, deleted, all at once" to make a rice and mixed vegetable bake studded with colorful cubes of vegetables and topped with a tempting layer of melted cheese.

Tanvi combines the comfort of an American classic with the complex flavors of Thai cuisine with a tiny bit of cheating as she calls it, using store-bought pie crust to make a beautiful red curry chicken pot pie.

Corina bakes Greek lemon chicken, with potatoes baked in the casserole to soak up the complex flavors of oregano, lemon and garlic. She says it is absolutely delicious, and a keeper.

The Cooker finds a recipe for a samosa casserole, confesses that it had her at "samosa" and makes her own version of Bengali-ishtyle potato-cauliflower samosa casserole which was gobbled up in a single sitting.

Bala used literally one pan, a marvel of technology that goes from microwave to stove to oven to table, to make brussels sprouts au gratin with unusual (to me) vegetables like parsnips and chestnuts and lots of creamy cheese. 

Johanna finds that inclement weather makes grocery shopping difficult, but she manages to use what she has at home, "forgotten vegetarian sausage I found at the back of the fridge, some leftover sundried tomato pasta sauce that had not been a hit, wilted spring onions, a heel of parmesan cheese that was drying out", to make a wonderful spinach rice gratin.

Sometimes life calls for mix and match to make something unique to fit your needs. 

SS reveals her complicated inner monologue about foods that are and aren't appropriate for lunch boxes (e.g. too-green stuff and too-brown stuff is a no-no) and discovers a new dabba candidate in parotta salad, with a torn-up paratha, fresh crunchy veggies, protein patty and a sauce to bring it all together.

Supriya goes blog-hopping and borrows components from different blogs- Mexican rice from one place and fajita vegetables from another, then layers them in a crisp shell to make an impressive taco salad in tortilla bowl.

Just because it is a one dish meal does not mean it cannot also be an elaborate masterpiece.

Satya puts layers of love and care, even making tortillas from scratch, and comes up with a multilayered quesadilla- beans, vegetables and cheese nestled in layers of fresh tortillas.

Miri's description ("not too cloyingly thick, not too sweet, not bland at all - a perfect blend of flavours which pleases the palate") brings alive a wonderful Burmese dish, and then she put a lot of TLC into making a spread of noodles, creamy curry and an array of delightful toppings to make her version of Burmese Khow Suey.

Jayasri battles a migraine and makes it to the one-dish party with a beautiful platter of Hyderabadi vegetable biryani, a labor of love involving a dozen warm spices, plenty of vegetables and several tasty ingredients including cashews, raisins, fried onions and herbs.

Finally, JK says that much as she appreciates the routine of roti-subzi-dal-chawal, sometimes she needs a break and turns to one dish meals instead. She posts three one-dish meals, including handvo, a savory vegetable cake, methi theplas and pan pizza.

A huge thank you to all the participants for playing along. As you might have noticed, time slipped past me and I did not get around to participating in my own event- oh well, there's always a next time. 

Please check back on Thursday for the next theme (clue: there won't be much of a theme per se) and for a bonus soup recipe in that same post. 

19 comments:

  1. I am drooling after reading all the descriptions of the dishes. I love it when masterpieces are recreated by others, so these must be keepers. :)

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  2. Has it been a month already??? How do I always miss these?!!?! the round up looks great!s

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  3. Looks like a good bunch of recipes for us to try next. Will check them out one by one. Thanks for hosting the event and putting together the round-up, Nupur!

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  4. Yummy - this one is to be bookmarked - so many delicious one pot meals in one place!!! Perfect. Pity you couldn't join in though!

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  5. I am determined to come back and check these recipes when I have more time as these are just the sort of recipes I love and often make so more inspiration is always welcome - thanks for a great round up

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  6. Hi Nupur,
    Some of my family's favourite one pot meals are:
    1. Couscous
    2. Chicken with lemons
    3. Poulet Basquaise (my version)
    4. Cassoulet
    5. multi-bean lemon stew
    6. Poulet au Riesling
    Autumn is when I start with the one pot dishes, but these above reign supreme.
    Cheers
    Ujwala
    Thanks for sharing

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  7. such nice recipes,thnks for the roundup,.

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  8. This is a very interesting round-up. I just love one dish meals. Thanks!

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  9. Nupur,

    I am big fan of one pot meals. Missed joining this one. Would love to join in the next events.
    Nice round-up with lot of treats!!

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  10. Awesome roundup,enjoyed going through the roundup..

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  11. wow beautiful round up like always ...got a lot of dishes to try ...

    Satya
    http://www.superyummyrecipes.com

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  12. Lovely creations. Love one pot dishes..

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  13. Dinner times just got a little stressful.
    Thanks for picking this theme.
    Wondeful roundup, as usual.

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  14. Hi Nupur, thanks for including mine, I made this particularly for this event, I love to participate in all the events, and that too from different blogs, I always cook and enjoy eating them but never post them for many unavoidable reasons, thank you so much, it is lovely to see so many dishes which I am sure going to try out some day soon.., beautiful theme wonderful roundup, looking forward to the next one...

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  15. links to so many good recipes in a single post, this seems like a jackpot!

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  16. Lovely round up as usual Nupur. Great to see these wonderful one dish meals besides rice :)

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  17. Nupur, This is a unrelated question to this post. I am interested to know about your progress with P90X. I am considering getting the DVDs and would like to know your feedback :)

    Nandini

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  18. Janet- Thanks for participating!

    radioactivegan- I know, time flies eh?? Soon it will be a new year- aargh :) We missed you this month.

    SS- Thanks so much for taking the time to participate!

    Miri- Yeah, life got busy :)

    Johanna- I know, one dish meals are very valuable when time is short. Thanks so much for joining us this month.

    Ujwala- Thanks for sharing your ideas.

    notyet100- Thanks!

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  19. Caffettiera- Me too :)

    Ashwini- I hope you join us in the next round, it is 2 months long so there's time :)

    Priya- Thanks!

    Satya- Thanks!

    Divya Vikram- Thank you!

    TheCooker- Thanks for suggesting the theme- everyone seems to want/need/love one dish meals.

    Jayasri- Thanks for participating and making a wonderful dish.

    Gauri- Glad you like it :)

    Amruta- I know, rice is the default for me but there are so many possibilities.

    Nandini- Please can you e-mail me at OneHotStove AT gmail.com for all questions unrelated to the post? Thanks!

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Thanks for leaving a comment- I try to respond to every single one.