Caprese and Chhole

Mixing up Italian and Indian is not something to be done lightly. I will stop with political humor there (Indian politics), but get to briefly describing what I made for a Labor day barbecue event hosted by a British friend of mine in the US.

A simple caprese salad appetizer,easy hand held food.

A simple to make,but complex flavored chickpea rice dish. (Chana masala + sauteed veggies + basmati rice)

Sliced tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, fresh leaf basil, Virgin olive oil drizzle.

Saute the veggies in a small amount of hot oil. Red chili powder, salt, cumin powder go well here.

Note: the general procedure for most "curries" involves roasting cumin seeds in hot oil, let crackle, then add chopped red onions, sauteing those for 2 mins on mediumheat, add garlice, ginger finely chopped pieces, saute for a min, then add veggies,saute for 2 mins,add tomatoes, sprinkle turmeric and red chili flakes - cook for a min or two, then add chickpeas.

Throw in drained chickpeas (I used a can).If you cook chickpeas fresh, then drain and add.

Mix in the already cooked rice. I used basmati rice, added a spoon of ghee for flavor.

Mix it up to coat the rice well and garnish with fresh cilantro leaves or provide them at table for garnishing on serving plate.

Simple Summer Flavors - Caprese Salad

A simple recipe to enjoy the fresh basil leaves of summer.

Full Name: Tomato Basil Mozzarella Caprese Salad:

Caprese-1-basil_roma-tomatoes

Serves 4-5 (as appetizer)
Ingredients:
Basil, fresh leaves - 1/2 cup
Roma tomatoes - 2
Fresh Mozzarella cheese block - 50g
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Thyme or oregano flakes (optional), Salt - optional.

Pinch or snip the leaves from the basil stalks. Rinse the leaves if needed to remove any dust etc. Arrange leaves on plate or any flat surface.  I don't know if there is a convention to have the leaves facing greener side up or down - so I did both. Since I was a little ocd, I alternated them.

Basil, Tomatoes, Mozzarella block, Olive oil

The only thing I did uniform was to have the stem end of the leaf point inward to the center of the circle. I don't think this stuff matters but if you are into symmetry then it's kinda cool.

The small leaves were kept protected inside like baby elephants are protected by a herd.

Sliced cheese on basil, tomatoes sliced and ready

Ok, back to food:



Slice the cheese into and lay it flat on the leaves. Slice the tomatoes, arrange them on top of the cheese slices.

Now, drizzle some olive oil and then dust with thyme powder (or "italian spices").
Chill for half hour, if needed during hot summer days to give it a nice cool touch when ready to be served as appetizers. Serve.

Tomato slices arranged on cheese

Optional/Variations: You can play around with the order of stacking. Even if you do not have fresh basil leaves, you can do the cheese and tomato in any season and use pesto spread/paste on the cheese or use basil flakes. Other flavor herbs (rosemary, thyme, blasphemous cilantro ) etc can also be tried.

For extra flavor, you can throw a few walnuts or sunflower to make it crunchy

 

Ready to serve caprese after dusting with thyme powder