Nylon Khaman-Microwave Recipe

Healthy snack prepared in a jiffy, sounds like a keeper, yeap I'm talking about gujju dish called khaman. Gujarti food is well known for its sweet and sour taste and unique preparations, Khaman falls in that category.Tasty because it  has sweetness from sugar, tangy taste from citric acid crystals and hot flavor from green chili and ginger. Healthy because it is steam cooked (here microwaved) without excessive oil or frying.
And on top of it, it is prepared from besan which is a very good source of protein. Hence we can say this is a guilt free snack.
Khaman falls into the category of dhokla, along with khatta dhokla, rasia dhokla and more famous these days are tri-colored cheese dhoklas. Usually dhokla are made by fermenting the chickpeas batter but the nylon khaman calls in for chickpea / bengal gram flour and is the easier version compared to other dhokla recipes.
The word "Nylon" perfectly adheres to this khaman because it is very smooth to palate plus airy and tender in texture.
 I had great time cooking this recipe which took less than 12-15 mins from start to finish. :)

Ingredients:

For Khaman:
1 cup Besan (Bengal gram flour)
2 tbs rava/sooji/semolina
pinch of turmeric powder/haldi powder
3 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp citric acid crystals/nimbu ke phool
1 tsp ginger-green chili paste
1 1/2 tsp Eno/fruit salt
salt to taste
1 cup water

For Garnish:
handful of chopped coriander leaves
1 tsp of red chili powder/lal mirch powder

For Tempering:
2 tbs oil
1 tbs sesame seeds/ til
1/2 tsp mustard seeds/rai
2 green chillies slit and halved
pinch of asafoetida/hing
3 tbs water

Method:
Grease two microwave safe containers of approx 5 to 6 inch diametre and keep aside.
In a big bowl combine all ingredients for khaman except eno, mix well and break any lumps that might have formed in the batter.
Now add eno to the batter and pour 2 tbs of water on it in such a way that eno sizzzles up into a foamy bubbly mix. Now mix the batter well so that eno is fully incorporated in batter.
Pour this batter into two greased containers and wrap it with cling film (if you dont have a cling film then cover the container with microwave safe plate)
Place one container in microwave and Microwave on 100% power for 2 minutes. Let it stand for 90 seconds and then remove. Repeat this process for second container.
Remove the wrap and let khaman cool down a bit.
Prepare them for tempering by cutting them into square pieces and sprinkling red chilli powder and coriander leaves on them. Keep aside.

For tempering :
Heat oil in a small pan, add rai to it and once it starts to crackle add til, hing and green chillies. Turn of the heat and add 3 tbs of water to it. Pour this tempering mix to prepared khaman.
Serve with chutney of your choice or ketchup, I prefer with green chutney.

Apple & Raisin Cake

Wishing you all a Very Happy Women's Day. To my loving Mom and Mother-in-Law, this is for celebrating you, as you are, just the way you are, loving, caring and indispensible to me. And to all my girl friends and fellow bloggers , wishing you all are very happy women's day.

I've adopted this recipe from Shilpa's blog here thanks shilpa for posting this easy to bake and tempting recipe. I've baked this cake in my pressure cooker, yeap you're reading it right, in my pressure cooker just to make a contribution to Nupurs MBP # 1 Cookers, Blog Bites. 
This cake came out to be super moist and rich in texture, raisins gave a nice surprise at every bite, apple flavor was subtle and blended nicely with vanilla flavor. 

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour/maida.
1 apple (i used 1 big gala apple)
1/2 cup raisins
3/4th cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract/essence
2 medium eggs
1/3 cup + 2 tbs milk
1/3 cup oil (i used sunflower oil) + little more for greasing
1/4th teaspoon salt

 Method:
Grease and dust one baking pan, in my case cooker ka dabba, grease with oil and dust it with maida. Keep it aside.
Place pressure cooker on a very low heat along with its lid closed but Remember to remove its whistle/weight (we shall bake cake without the whistle ). This is done to make an oven environment. Place a small ring or some small stand in the cooker, this is to place our dabba on it.

Remove the skin of apple and chop it into big chunks and place them in a blender along with milk. Blend it well.
Add oil and pulse it couple of times to make sure oil is mixed well.
In a deep bowl, break in the eggs and beat them till light and bubbly. Mix this with apple,milk and oil liquid. Just mix it dont beat it.
Now sift baking powder, salt and all purpose flour and mix in sugar nicely. Make a well in middle and drop in raisins.
Add the milk, apple and egg mix to the flour mix and gently fold it, make sure you dont over stir or beat it well or else it shall result in sweet bread instead of perfect cake, I make sure not to stir more than 10-14 stir rounds.
Pour this into the dusted dabba.
Place it in the cooker and bake it for 40-50 mins.
To check whether the cake is done, insert a toothpick and draw it out, if it comes out clean turn off the heat and remove the dabba. Let it stand for 10 mins and then remove the cake frm the container by inverting it on a plate.
Allow the cake to cool. Store in an airtight container.
This cake can be stored for upto 3 days without refrigeration and upto 15 days in refrigerator.

Tips:
Dust powdered sugar on the cake after the cakes cools down completely.
Decorate this cake with nice vanilla icing and cherries for a nice party dessert.

Urad Dal Hara Masala/ White lentils cooked with ginger, garlic and green chillies

How can we vegetarians, fill in our protein needs?!! Anyone's guess, turn to lentils. Urad dal cooked with all green spices, by green spicies I mean real fresh grown ones... which include green onion, green garlic (dont sweat if you dont have green garlic, add in normal garlic pods as I did), green chillies and ginger and the result is tempting garlicy aromatic dal.
We gujju's love this dal with bajri rotla/ bajre ki roti. Besides this I love this dal as a sippy side dish and goes great along with any sukhi sabzi  and roti.
Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup urad dal/white lentils, pressure cooked and lightly mashed
3 green chillies slit in half
1 inch piece of ginger chopped
5 pods of garlic chopped
2 green onions, including the greens, chopped
salt to taste
1/2 tsp mustard seeds/rai
1/2 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
2 tbs oil for tempering
pinch of asafoetida
handful of chopped fresh coriander, for garnish.

Method:
Heat oil in heavy bottom pan and add oil, once it starts to smoke add in mustard and cumin, let them crackle
add in asafoetida. Now add all chopped greens and saute for 1 minute.
Add in lightly mashed urad dal and salt to taste.
Add in 1 1/2 to 2 cups of water and bring it to boil.
Garnish it with chopped coriander and serve hot.

Tips:

This dal goes well with jeera rice and as well as any kind of parathas.

Fansi nu Shaak/ French beans and Garlic Stir Fry

Back to routine food after a wonderful weekend and all eatouts, so I decided to prepare french beans, urad dal and chappati along with our favorite achaar for dinner tonight.

Ingredients:
250 gms Fansi/French beans chopped into 1/2 inch length or whatever cut you like
150 gms / 1 large onion chopped length wise
3 tsp garlic paste
2 green chillies chopped roughly
1 inch piece of ginger grated
1/2 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
1/2 tsp mustard seeds/rai
1 tsp punjabi masala/ all spice mix
1/2 tsp turmeric powder/haldi
1/2 tsp red chili powder/lal mirch powder
salt to taste
pinch of asafoetida
2 tbs oil for tempering

Method:
Heat oil in heavy bottom pan/kadhai and add mustard and cumin, once they come to crackle add asafoetida and ginger, garlic and green chillies. Saute for 30 seconds and add in chopped onion, saute for one min and add in chopped fansi along with turmeric and salt.
Cover the pan and cook till veggies are nice, tender and almost cooked, at this point add red chili powder and all spice.
Mix well and turn off the heat.
Serve warm along with chappaties or rotis or enjoy it along with dal and rice.

Palak Masala Khichdi/ Spicy Spinach Khichdi

Imagine the wholesomeness of this dish as it has all the proteins via lentils/dal, all vitamins, minerals and fiber from spinach and carrots and all the wonderful subtle aroma borrowed from lovely indian spices...yeap thats whats for dinner tonight, lovely Palak masala khichdi and jeera chaas along with papad and aachaar.
P, loves anything with lots of veggies and is a die hard fan of rice, so I thought of making nice biryani for him but then I said lets add some protein in form of dal and make khichdi instead of biryani. It was just few days back when I was surfing for some nice palak recipes I read this recipe at foodatarian.com, find the recipe
here

Secondly after nupur announced MBP #1 Cookers
here
I had to get busy and jump in to be a good sport.

This one pot dish is easy to prepare and light to digestive system.
So here's the recipe for this tantalizing palak masala khichdi... enjoy.


Ingredients:
1 cup Basmati rice
1/2 cup Mung dal
1 bunch palak/spinach chopped and washed thoroughly
1 medium onion roughly chopped
2 green onion roughly chopped
1 small carrot peeled and chopped roughly
1 medium tomato or 1 tbs tomato paste
2 green chillies slit and cut in half
1 inch piece of ginger grated
3 pods of garlic grated
1 tsp turmeric/haldi powder
1 tsp red chili powder (i used kashmiri lal mirch powder)
1 1/2 tsp garam masala/ all spice powder
salt to taste
Handful of chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

For tempering
1 tsp oil
1 tbs ghee/clarified butter
1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
1/2 tsp rai/mustard seeds
1 pinch asafoetida/hing
2 dry red chillies


Method:

On a medium flame heat pressure cooker, add oil, ghee and once they start to smoke add all other tempering ingredients.
Add in all veggies and ginger-chili-garlic, except palak. Add all other masalas and sautee for 30 seconds and then add in palak. Let the palak shrink in sized and then add in rice and dal
Add 3 1/2 cups of water.
Closed the pressure cooker with its lid and cook on medium flame for 3 whistles and then on low flame for 5 mins.
Let the steam subside before opening the pressure cooker.
Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with plain curd or gujarati kadi or punjabi kadi or masala chaas... anything made of curd goes fine with this khichdi.


Tips:
If you prefer more tangy flavor, grind curd along with handful of coriander leaves and add this to khichdi just before serving.

Mysore Sada Dosa & Mysore Cheese Chutney Dosa

We all have to agree that south indian food not only is mouth water and satiating but also has a unique style and taste to it. There are numerous version of dosa, idly and vadas and puttus. Today I'm planning to prepare Mysore sada dosa for dinner as my fridge is running empty on veggies except some cucumber, carrots and few other things which can nicely make a lovely pot of sambar, which is a must have for any dosa may it be sada dosa, paper sada dosa, masala dosa, mysore sada dosa, rava dosa or neer dosa or plain ghee dosa.
Mysore sada dosa comes from a beautiful city of Mysore and this dosa is just like any sada dosa but with a kick of mysore chutney inside. After preparing the dosa, mysore chutney either in powder form or paste form will be dusted or spread inside the dosa. This mysore chutney recipe has many variations to it too.
Preparing dosa require a bit of planning, rice and urad dal needs to to soaked for 5-6 hours and then ground to smooth paste and kept in warm place for a couple of hours. Hence if you are planning to make dosa for lunch make sure to soak those ingredients at night and grind to paste first thing in morning, but if you are planning to make dosa for dinner soaking rice and lentils early morning and grinding them around 3 in afternoon is perfect for lovely dinner.

For Dosa we require to soak 2 cups of rice and 1/2 cup of urad dal(white lentils) seperately. Drop in few seeds, roughtly 10-12 seeds of methi(fenugreek seeds) in both rice and lentils.
Soak them for 5-6 hours or overnight.

Now using a blender, grind the drained rice with just enough water to a smooth paste. Add only about 1/3 cup water.
Now grind drained urad dal to a smooth paste add around 1/2 cup water.
Mix both paste nicely and add salt and a pinch of asafoetida.
Keep this container in warm place so that the batter can start the fermenting process.
In case of dosa batter does not need for than 2 hours of fermenting in summer season and not more than 3 1/2 hours fermenting in winter or humid conditions.
This batter can be stored in refrigerator for upto 4-5 days and used as required.

Make thin dosas, using the back of the ladle to spread the dosa out on the skillet. These thin dosas only need to be cooked on one side. When the top of the dosa is dry to touch, sprinkle some of the chutney powder or spread some liquid chutney (as i did). Ready to be served with sambar and any chutney or your choice.


For Mysore chutney blend 3/4th cup of fresh coconut along with 15-20 garlic pods, 1 tbs of sesame seeds/til, 1-2 tbs or kashmiri lal mirch powder (adjust according to your taste) and salt to taste. As i surfed the net to find the perfect mysore chutney recipe i found that roasted channa dal and urad dal are added to this chutney after grinding them to fine powder.... sounds good too. This time i didnt add those powder instead opted for plain garlic chutney option.


Make sure that the chutney is bit watery or a bit on liquidish side.... which ensures nice spreading on dosa.



Along with garlic chutney, spread a bit of coriander mint chutney too, then grate a little cheddar cheese and fold the dosa, voila!! you have mysore chutney cheese dosa.

Tips:
Add any leftover veggies to this dosa and sprinkle some cheese, now roll this crepe into a wrap and tuck in one open side, now you have for yourself a nice veggie mysore wrap.

Hummus

As everyone knows hummus is a middle eastern dip that is served as an appetizer with pita bread, well know is khuboos out here. This easy to make dip has suble flavors to it.

Take 1 cup boiled chickpeas (remove the outer skin of as many chickpeas as possible, this will make hummus gastrically friendly), toss them in blender or food processor, add 1 small garlic clove, salt to taste, 1 tsp lemon juice and 1 tsp of tahina, tahina is sesame/til paste or alternatively make ur own tahina paste-lightly roast sesame seeds and blend them into a fine paste.
Ground this mix into a smooth paste and store in airtight bottle or jar.
Serve it with a sprinkle of paprika and a table spoon of olive oil.

Enjoy.

Channa Masala (Chickpea curry)

I had to make something special today, today being my mom & dad's 32nd wedding anniversary :). Happy Anniversary mum and pappa. So today mine dinner menu goes like this- Channa masala with trikon/traingular paratha, hummus and litchi juice.

Channa masala is a very special dish for me as it attaches some very fine memories with my family especially my mom and dad. This was the first dish that my mom taught me when i was just 13 and that day I was soooo eager for my dad to come home and taste it. I remember, even though I had managed to burn this curry, my dad ate it with appreciation in his eyes. This is the only dish which really makes me feel at home.
P too loves this dish as it is a spicy curry and he is a foodie who loves everything that is hot and spicy. :)

Ingredients:

3 cups boiled chole channa/chickpeas
2 medium sized onions chopped finely
3 large tomatoes/4 medium tomatoes chopped finely / 3 tbs tomato paste, diluted in 1/2 cup water / 2 1/2 cups medium thick tomato juice (i used tomato paste as it give this gravy nice colour)
2 green chillies chopped finely
1 tbs grated ginger
2 tsp grated garlic
2 tbs oil
2 tbs dhania-jeera powder/coriander-cumin powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp red chilli powder (i used kashmiri lal mirch powder)
1 tsp garam masala/all spice
1 1/2 tsp chole channa masala
salt to taste
1 cup water
hand ful of chopped coriander leaves/cilantro for garnish.

combine and grind to powder:
2 tbs til/sesame seeds
1 tbs saunf/fennel seeds


Method:

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion, garlic, ginger and pepper and sauté over medium heat until browned, about 5 minutes.
Turn heat down to medium-low and add the coriander-cumin, red chilli, turmeric, channa masala and garam masala. Cook onion mixture with spiced for a minute or two, then add the tomatoes and any accumulated juices, scraping up any bits that have stuck to the pan. Add the ground powder of sesame and fennel seeds
Cook for about 7 mins or till the raw tomato taste has gone.
Add the water and chickpeas. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, then stir in salt and lemon juice if you prefer tangy curry.
Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot.


Tips:
Add lemon juice or amchur powder to make this curry more tangy if you prefer.
Fennel seeds adds that zing to this gravy adjust the aroma according to your preference. I prefer minimal to mild aroma of fennel hence have adjusted in accordance in this dish.
Serve it with paratha or jeera rice. Goes well with plain steamed rice too.

Dal Dhokli / Pasta in Lentil soup Indian Style

Consider this as a totally authentic pasta dish not coming from Italy but from heart of India, Gujarat. Fresh pasta simmered in tasty, spicy and aromatic lentil soup, slice of heaven served on plate. The wholesomeness of whole wheat flour and protein rich lentils make this dish extra special.
Gujaraties are well-known for their love of food and the range of dishes which are unique in itself and this dish comes as a proof of it.
Some people describe dal dhokli as a pasta-like dish as I do, but the practice of dropping everyday bread dough into a simmering pot, puts it in the dumpling category too. So its upto you to pick your choice.
This is a one pot dish and a favorite in Gujarat as a Holiday evening dish.
Happy Cooking.

Ingredients :

For Gujarati Dal:
1/2 cup toor dal/arhaar dal/split pigeon peas, pressure cooked/boiled and crushed/churned
1/2 tsp mustard seeds (rai)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1 tsp fenugreek seeds (methi)
10-12 curry leaves
2 small round red chillies (boriya)/dry red chillies
1/4 tsp asafoetida (hing)
1 tbs oil
2 tbs peanuts
8 pieces cocum, soaked/2 tbs lemon juice (I used lemon juice)
3 to 4 tbs jaggery (gur)/ sugar
1 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
4 green chillies, slit
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp grated ginger
salt to taste
Handful of freshly chopped coriander leaves/cilantro for garnishing

For Dhokli:
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (gehun ka atta)
1 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp asafoetida (hing)
2 tbs oil
1 tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
salt to taste

Method :

Preparing Dhokli-
Mix the atta, ajwain, chili powder, salt, turmeric powder oil, asafoetida, oil and add enough water to it to make a stiff dough. Divide the dough into 8 equal sized portions and roll out the dough, cut it into square or diamond shaped pieces, separate the individual pieces and keep aside on a large tray to dry out.




Preparing Dal-Dhokli-
In a large and deep pan, heat the oil, and add the mustard seeds. When they start to pop, add peanuts, cumin seeds, curry leaves, fenugreek seeds, asafoetida, red chillies and finally add the cooked dal.
Add the slit green chillies, grated ginger, turmeric powder, red chili powder, jaggery and lemon juice and plenty of water (around 4 cups).
Add Salt to taste.
Bring it to a boil.

Add the dhokli pieces to the dal and cook it for a few minutes on medium heat until the dal starts to thicken and the dhoklis have softened and cooked. I usually add dhoklis and pressure cook them for 1 whistle.
Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves.

Tips :
Serve hot with a dollop of ghee, thats the traditional way of enjoying dal dholki.
Dal dhokli can be prepared using left over gujarati dal, just add 2-2 1/2 cups of water to left over dal and bring it to a boil, adjust the spices if necessary, add in dhoklis and pressure cook for 1 whistle or till dhoklis are cooked.
Prepare double recipe of dhokli and freeze half of it in Ziploc bags for future use. Time saving hmmm!!! so that next time I only need to make some dal and drop in the dhoklis.
In case you have leftover dal dhokli, reheat it with a little water to thin it out.

Mafia Style Veggie Pasta

Well its funny to call it mafia style veggie pasta but I have perfect nice explanation for that, this recipe is inspired from a Sicilian recipe for somewhere on net (Sicily being famous as mafia-country), I designed this dish to be hot and spicy in honor of the great mafia. I promise its a "taste bud kicker".
This recipe is all about chili, I've used green chillies, capsicum, chili sauce and red chili flakes. Have also given it a slight dash of fresh ground black pepper, fresh chopped ginger & garlic, these ingredients give nice aroma and appetizing taste to this dish but remember its all about the chilies. Cheers.

Ingredients :
2 cups cooked pasta of your choice.
1 medium sized Capsicum, I used green capsicum, chopped into chunks
1 medium sized Onion, chopped into chunks
1 medium-large sized Tomato, you guessed it right chopped into chunks
2 green chillies chopped
2 pods of garlic thinly sliced
1/2 inch ginger thinly sliced
2 tbs chili sauce
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp red chili flakes/ 1/4th tsp red chili powder
salt to taste
2 tbs olive oil

Method :
Heat olive oil in heavy bottom pan, add ginger, chillies and garlic. Saute for 30 seconds and add in onions. Saute for a minute and add in capsicum, after a minute add in chilli sauce, ground black pepper, salt and chilli flakes. Saute for 30 more seconds and add in tomatoes. Saute till tomatoes are cooked.
Now toss in cooked pasta and garnish it with dried parsley leaves and/or any herbs preferred.



Tips :
Toss in any kind of chili eg. capers or jalapeno or different coloured capsicum like red or yellow.

Mix Vegetable Curry/Subzi version-1

Mix veg curry is a very flexible recipe which comes handy when your fridge is stuffed with many veggies, individually not enough to make 4 servings dish in itself. As I opened my fridge today I faced the same nightmare, I had 1 cup of cauliflower florets and few more veggies like carrots, radish, onions and pototoes, so decide to prepare mix veg curry. Carrots bring out a sweet taste to this dish which adds that "umm" in it. Adding kashmiri lal mirch powder to this curry gives it a nice red tint.
One sentence explaination for this dish, just toss up any vegetables in hand in a hot pot, spice it, cook it and serve it. Today I have'nt used many veggies as I was out of stock but in some future post I shall jot down another version of Mix veg curry.
This is one of the comfort foods for me and P. So here goes the recipe.



Ingredients :
1 cup cauliflower florets
1 medium sized carrot peeled, sliced and diced
1 medium sized onion chopped into big chunks
1 medium sized potato peeled and cubed
1 tbs ginger-chilli paste
Handful of coriander leaves for garnish
2 tbs oil for tempering
1 tsp white lentil/urad dal (optional)
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
1 tsp mustard seeds/rai
pinch of asafoetida/hing
1 tsp turmeric powder/haldi
1/2 tsp red chilli powder (I used kashmiri lal mirch powder)
1/2 tsp garam masala/all spice/curry powder
salt to taste

Method :
Now you know the drill, heavy bottom pan on medium heat, oil, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, asafoetida, add cubed potato and let it cook.
When potatoes are almost done add in all other veggies along with all spices and let it cook till carrots and cauliflower is cooked just enough to have a bit to it.
Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and serve warm.

Tips :
Add veggies like capsicum, green peas, zucchini, sweet corn, radish, baby corn, green beans and/or any veggies you prefer or have in hand.
Avoid adding eggplant/baigan/brinjal and bottlegourd to this dish as these veggies have a distinct taste which does not go well with this dish.
Can add in spring onion greens for garnishing too.

Tomato-Onion Raita

Which Indian meal is complete without a raita?!!! well none. For this raita just toss in a small well chopped onion and tomato, garnish it with loads of cilantro/fresh coriander leaves and a small green chilli into a cup of yogurt. Season it with salt, pepper and 1/4th tsp of red chilli powder or 1/2 tsp of fresh ground cumin seeds/jeera (if you prefer less spicy version of raita). Mix it well and refrigerate it. Serve it cooled. Done.

Plain Palak Curry

Today I plan on making a healthy dinner for P, so I opted for plain palak curry option rather than going in for a slightly heavier version of palak paneer. The best thing about this dish is its simple, quick, easy and appetizing not to forget loaded with iron, minerals and other vital nutrients. I plan on serving this curry with chapati and to balance off the meal prepared onion-tomato raita, gujarati dal and plain chaval/rice.


Ingredients :
Fresh Palak/spinach leaves 2 bunches, plucked and washed nicely
1 medium sized onion chopped
1 medium sized tomatoe chopped
2 tbs til/sesame seeds roasted and powdered
1 tbs ginger-chilli paste
1 tsp garlic paste
salt to taste
pinch of soda-bicarb
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
pinch of asafoetida/hing
1/2 tsp turmeric powder/haldi
2 tbs oil for tempering

Method :

Bring 2 litres of water to boil in a deep pan. Add soda-bicarb and palak leaves to it and boil them for 3-4 mins. Turn off the heat and strain the leaves. Let them cool off for few mins. Puree them to a smooth paste adding just enough water to get the blender going, usually 1/4th cup shall be enough. Keep this puree aside.

In a heavy bottom pan heat oil for tempering, add cumin seeds and once they start spluttering add asafoetida, onion and ginger-chilli paste. Once onion has acheived translucent phase add garlic paste and just enough salt for onions and tomatoes. Cook till raw garlic smell has turned into nice aroma add tomatoes and turmeric powder. Let it cook till tomatoes are totally cooked and oil starts seperating.
Add powdered til and saute for one more minute.
Now add spinach puree and let the curry cook for 2-4 mins or till all ingredients have blended and nicely soaked in spinach curry. Now adjust salt according to your taste.
Remove this curry into a glass bowl, it helps to retain its lovely green colour, as iron in spinach tends to react with metal utensil in which it is prepared and the curry changes colour to deep maroonish or greenish maroon.

Adding salt in the end is crucial coz spinach is high in iron hence has a bit salty taste to it. Remember this recipe shall require less than half amount of salt that is required to cook any other greens of same quantity.

Curry is ready to be served. Goes gr8 with rice or paratha, chapati etc.

Tips :
Add fried paneer/cottage cheese cubes to it makes it Palak Paneer curry dish.
Adding fried/boiled pototo cubes to it makes it Aloo Palak curry dish.
You can also have this plain palak curry with noodles for a change.
Adding Soda-bicarb while blanching spinach is crucial as it helps this dish to retain its fresh green colour. Although if you plan to cook this dish just before serving it, you can skip adding it altogether.

Aloo Methi Subzi

Winters always remind me of lovely green veggies that we get back in baroda. Palak, methi, tandalja etc are the types of green veggies which are usually a part of evening dishs at our home in baroda. Though palak is readily available here in riyadh, its hard to find fresh methi or tandalja leaves, so my solution to this problem, P's mom, she sun dries fresh methi leaves for me, Thanks Mom :)
So today while surveying my lader I found myself stuck with same veggies and no options so decided to prepare sukhi aloo subzi, then as if miracle happened and dried methi leaves showed their presence by falling off the cabinet while I was trying to get some bowls out of lower cabinet shelf. And so I just soaked it and prepared this mouth watering, simple and aromatic dish.

Ingredients :

2 Large Potatoes Boiled and cubed
1 Small to medium onion chopped to strips
Handful of dried fenugreek leaves/kasuri methi alternatively can use fresh methi leaves too.
2 tbs til/sesame seeds
2 tbs ginger-chilli paste
1 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp rai/mustard seeds
1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
1 tsp urad dal/white lentils
1 tsp methi seeds/fenugreek seeds
pinch of asafoetida
salt to taste
3 tbs oil for tempering

Method :
Soak kasuri methi for half an hour.
In a heavy bottom pan heat oil, add urad dal, rai,methi,jeera. When it starts spluttering add asafoetida, ginger-chilli paste, sesame seeds, onion, turmeric and kasuri methi. Let this mix cook on medium flame till the onions are tender and cooked to crunch.Add salt along with boiled-cubed potatoes. Turn off the heat after 4-5 mins.
Serve hot with chappati or paratha of you choice.

Tips :
Goes good with sindhi koki.
Left over can be used to prepare sandwiches or alternatively mash up the left over sabzi and prepare aloo paratha for snacks.

Chikki- Caramelized peanut bars

Chikki, Uttarayan(kite flying festival) favorite, is a ready to eat Indian sweet. Chikki has given International fame to places like Matheran, Karjat and Lonavala (places near Mumbai), which are world renouned exporters of different kinds of chikki's.
Traditionally, Gujju's prepare chikki during the month of January especially during uttarayan time. Talking about uttarayan, HAPPY UTTARAYAN TO ALL, what is uttarayan without patang, manja, phirki, chikki, sherdi and boar... ahh getting nostalgic. Coming back to chikki, it is prepared using either sugar or jaggery (traditional unrefined non-centrifugal sugar used in india, sri lanka, pakistan and even south america) either/along with sesame seeds, peanuts, cashew, almonds, pistachios, coconut, puffed rice, etc.

Brazil is famous for "Pé-de-moleque" a traditional sweet from the Brazilian cuisine made of peanuts and jaggery or molasses similar to indian chikki, rather to say one and the same.

Chikki prepared with jaggery is deemed to have more beneficial properties than one prepared with sugar, as jaggery retains more mineral salts and is absorbed in blood at slower rate than sugar. Indian Ayurvedic medicine considers jaggery to be beneficial in treating throat and lung infections too.
Whatever the reasons, I and P both like our chikki's made from jaggery.

Ingredients :

2 cups Peanuts (roasted, chaffed and coarsely pounded)
1 1/2 cups Jaggery
1 tbs Ghee/clarified butter
Few Drops of edible oil for oiling the surface to work on for spreading the chikki(prefer groundnut oil or corn oil, oils like olive oil have a very specific taste and aroma to it so avoid it)

Method :
In a heavy bottom pan add ghee and jaggery, let the jaggery melt and bubble up for a minute or two, stir in every few seconds. Now ladle out a drop of jaggery on any plate or counter top and see if it sticks to it or not, if it sticks let the jaggery bubble for a bit longer, but if the jaggery forms a nice non sticky ball add pounded peanuts. Turn off the heat and mix well.
Now place this mixture on nicely oiled surface and with the help of rolling pin roll out chikki to desired thickness. But before you start rolling take care this mix will be very hot so let it just cool for 1 minute or so. Take care not to burn yourself.
Break up the pieces of the rolled out chikki once it has cooled off or you can also cut the pieces while its rolled and still hot. I prefer to break it into pieces gives me the feel of "MA ke haath ka bana", choice is yours.

Tips:
Add 2 tbs of sugar to make chikki more crunchier.
While making Sesame/til chikki the proportion will be 2 cups til and 1 cup jaggery.
Once you place the chikki mixture on oiled surface, oil you hands too and tap on top of chikki to make it a nice round flat ball this will make the process of rolling out easy.
Store it in an air tight container. Shelf life upto 15-17 days, if it lasts that long. :)

Quesadilla

Quesadilla, a mexican snack food made of cheese, pronunced in spanish as "kesa diya" or "kesa dia", literally means "cheese tortilla" or "cheese cake".
In this recipe cheese and other ingredients are sandwiched between two flour tortillas and grilled on an oiled griddle, flipped so both sides are cooked and the cheese is melted, finally served after being cut into wedges. This type is often called "sincronizada" in Mexico.

Ingredients :

For flour tortillas:

1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsps butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking pwd
approx 1/2 cup mix of warm milk & water, 1:1 ratio


For the vegetable filling:

onions (chopped finely), cabbage (chopped finely), carrots (shredded), capsicum (chopped finely), spring onions (chopped finely, including onion greens), tomatoes (chopped finely) or any vegetables of your choice
salt to taste
red chili flakes
3/4-1 cup grated cheese
1/4 tsp black pepper grounded
1 tbs chili sauce
1/4 tsp chili powder
4 cloves garlic
1 tbs olive oil

Method :

For Tortillas :
Combine all the ingredients except milk in a wide utensil and mix well so that baking powder gets nicely incorporated within the mix. Now slowly add the warm milk & water mix to knead to a soft dough. Keep aside for 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into 8 equal balls and roll them into thin chapatis of approx 7″-9″ diameter.
Pre-heat a griddle and place each tortilla on the hot griddle for only 3-5 seconds on each side and remove. This step is done to ensure that tortilla don't stick to each other when stacked. Keep aside all the lightly toasted tortillas.

For Veggies :
In heavy bottom pan heat olive oil and saute crushed garlic cloves, once the raw garlic smell is gone add all the veggies.
Remember to keep the flame on medium high. Stir in all the other ingredients like salt, pepper, chili flakes etc and turn off the heat.
Remember veggies should not be raw, neither should they be thoroughly cooked, we need them to hold that crunchiness.
This whole process should not take more than 3-4 minutes.
Prepare this mix before hand so that by the time you prepare quesadilla, veggies would cool down to room temp.



For Quesadilla:
Place a tortilla on a clean surface and spread the veggie mix on it, shred some mozzarella, cheddar or any kind of cheese, run a damp finger around the rim of this tortilla and place another tortilla on it. Seal the rim by pressing these two tortilla together. You can also take a fork and press along the rim.
Pre-heat a griddle and on medium heat roast both sides of the quesadilla flipping over to toast both sides. Ensure that you cook it over medium heat, you want the cheese to melt inside.
Remove quesadilla onto a serving plate, slice into triangles and serve hot with garlicy salsa or tomato ketchup.

Tips:
Adding sweet corn or baby corn enhances the taste.
You can also add in cottage cheese into veggies and top it with mozzarella or cheddar cheese for more creamy quesadilla.
Alternatively we can spread salsa and cheese or salsa and sour cream for that perfect quesadilla.

Athela Marcha (Pickled green chillies)

Athela Marcha sounds and tastes amazing with any dish which is bland, such as plain khichdi or varan dal and rice. Athela marcha which literally means pickled chillies add instant kick of spiciness to any food. The Recipe which I have used is an authentic Gujarati Recipe and is followed by my mom and my M-I-L equally. I bet pickles never were more simplier than this!!!


Ingredients :

250 gms Vadhwani lila marcha/jalapeno peppers/jada marcha
75 gms rai na kuriya / split mustard seeds
1 to 1 1/2 tbs of salt (adjust as per your taste)
2 tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp Hing / asafoetida
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder



Method :

Wash and dry chillies, slit them length wise remove the seeds from prepping them to be pickled.
Now toss all other ingredients into a wide utensil and mix them well, here "well" means really well, for about 5 to 7 minutes. mix them using your hand, esp your palms as this process helps in utilizing body heat in melting salt quicker and more uniformly.
Add in the slit chillies and mix them well with the prepared achari mixture.
Store this in glass jars at room temperature for 2 days and there after in refrigerator for upto 20 days.

Tips :

Storing pickle at room temperature for 2 days is crucial coz this gives time for chilles to nicely marinate and absord all the flavors.
Make sure to shake up the pickle jar during these 2 days.
You can add 1 tbs of split fenugreek seeds to this pickle too, if you prefer a bit bitter kick in your pickles.
This pickle can be served with any kind of parathas, snacks and goes good with everyday food as a side dish. It can also be chopped into bits and added to veggie raita and used as one of the topping on pizza etc. Just let your imagination go wild!!

Veg Stir Fried Rice

Now this name ie vegetable fried rice or veg stir fried rice reminds me of one thing I love about baroda, the amazing chinese food we find there. Quiet unimaginable but dingy looking small road side eatery called "lari" serves the best veg fried rice and noodles and soups and many more dishes. The key to their success - knowing their spices and knowing their customers. Usually all the dishes served on lari are quite spicy except veg fried rice, this has a subtle flavors to it.

Fried rice is a popular dish in many cuisines ranging from chinese to most of asian and even african nations. These days UK and America's too have their staples like american version of chinese food just as india has indian version of chinese food.
Last vacation I had been to one up beat restaurant called "Mainland china" located in Centre Square Mall and they served genuinely authentic chinese food, the best part, they served us with aromatic jasmine tea as a welcome drink, it was a treat to all of my senses. :)

Today the veg fried rice is for P's lunch pack. These days again he is working crazy hours so I really hope he enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it.


Ingredients :

1/2 cup Long Grain Basmati Rice washed and soaked for min 20 mins, then pressure cooked adding exact 1 cup water.
1 small onion sliced thinly
1 small carrot grated
2 spring onions chopped including the greens
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
2 green chillies slit
1 inch piece of ginger grated/thinly sliced
1/2 tsp red chilli powder/flakes
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
salt to taste
pinch of asafoetida
2 tbs oil

Method :
Cook rice and let is cool for atleast 30 mins before starting the stir fry process. This way rice has time to cool down and bind itself to a perfect shape which is less likely to break easily while stir fry process. Remember warmer rice means more prone to breakage almost like "don't comb your hair while they are wet- more prone to breakage".
Now take a heavy bottom pan and heat oil in it. Add cumin seeds and let them come to a crackle then add asafoetida to it.
Add green chillies and sliced ginger and fry for 10 seconds. Now add all veggies except onion greens. Stir fry for about 2 mins or till the veggies are raw but just a bit tender, specially keep an eye on onions once they are tender but retain the shape, you know its done.
Add rice gently along with onion greens, salt and red chilli flakes.



Tips:
This recipe calls in for minimum salt and spices. You should be able to taste the sweetness of carrots and onions along with natural spiciness of green chilli and ginger. Cabbage and onion greens should give the taste of eating raw leafy veggie. So remember put only half the amount of salt you usually put in any dish with same quantity of rice and veggies.

To make a healthier version you can also add in mung sprouts or any other veggies in hand such as capsicum, cauliflower, zucchini etc.

Gajar ke Parathe

There is something very sweet about this recipe, gajar literally adds sweetness to this paratha recipe. As it is, whats the point in eating paratha if it doesn't have that extra kick of something in it!!!!
The best thing about this recipe is it contains lots of fiber in form of pearl millet or bajri ka atta. It is a nice way of getting more vitamin A too, as it calls in for carrots. Just remember dry roast this paratha and apply just a dash of ghee on top rather than shallow frying it with about 1/2 to 1 tsp oil on each paratha. Ghee tends to give a nice rustic charm to it and that is way I like it. Feel free to play with your food!!
So get your sleeves rolled up, as we make this yumm parathas.

In a large vessel take 1 1/2 cups of wheat flour and same quantity pearl millet flour/bajri ka atta.
Add in 2 large grated carrots (squeeze the juice out of grated carrots)and 1/4th cup chopped parsley or coriander leaves
Add 2 tbs of oil, 2 tbs green chillies-garlic-ginger paste, 1 tsp red chilli powder, 1 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp cumin powder, 2 tsp sugar, pinch of asafoetida and salt to taste.
Now get your hands dirty and knead a medium soft dough using yogurt/dahi.
Now roll out paratha out of lemon sized ball of dough and roast or shallow fry it using minimum oil on a non-stick griddle.

Serve hot with chutney, achaar, raita or curry of your choice.
Enjoy.

Gajar-Kakdi ka raita

Indian food platter is never complete without raita of some sort, may it be plain boondi raita or coriander mint raitha. Raita is a yogurt based dip served with kebabs or paapadums or biryani etc. It is specially served with spicy food so that this yogurt dip foils the effect of all those spices. Raita, in gujarat, is prepared in many different ways using either or combination of cucumber, mint, raw papaya, pineapple, onion, tomato, capsicum and even eggplants. Further dressed to perfection adding salt, pepper, cumin and other condiments of one's choice

Today I'm posting this simple Gajar-Kakdi raita recipe which I had prepared a few days back but hadn't been able to download the snaps, which delayed its posting.

In a large bowl I mixed in 1 medium sized grated carrot along with 1 medium sized chopped cucumber, 1 green chilli chopped and 2 tbs of chopped coriander leaves. Add 180gms of yogurt and added salt, freshly ground pepper corns and freshly ground cumin seeds/jeera.

Mixed well and refrigerated it for about an hour before serving it.
This raita tastes best when refrigerated for atleast 30 mins to one hour before serving.

I sometimes like to play up with the dressing and add 2-3 pinches of red chilli powder or 1/4th tsp of chilli flakes. Also sometimes I toss in a few chopped mint leaves, gives nice aroma.
So as I said play up with it and enjoy.