Lady Finger In Yogurt Marination
This is a dish which I watched on some cooking site and sorry to say that I forgot the name. Truly, the credit for this amazing preparation goes to that particular site. i tried it and loved it so sharing the recipe with you people. I felt it was very different and innovative. The recipe as below.
Ingredients
1)
250 gms of ladies finger chopped into medium sized pieces
1/2 cup of yogurt
2 tspn of ginger garlic paste
A pinch of salt
2)
2 onions finely chopped
1 tomato finely chopped
2 tsp of ginger garlic paste
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp dry mango powder
1 tsp garam masala
Salt to taste
Method
Marinate the chopped ladies finger in the ingredients given in 1) for about fifteen minutes and in apan take oil, add the marinated ladies finger, cook for about ten minutes and keep aside.
Now in a pan take oil and add the chopped onions, saute till golden, add ginger garlic, cook till the raw smell goes. Now add the ladies finger, chilli powder, dry mango powder, garam masala too. and cook till almost done, add salt carefully since there was salt in the marination. Add the tomatoes almost at the end and cook the vegetable for some more time, garnish with chopped coriander. Best eaten with pooris but you can eat with roti and parathas too.
Paneer Masala
A delicious cottage cheese curry, creamy, spicy and rich in taste. Great with roomali roti and naan. My recipe coming below.
Ingredients
a)
250 gms of malai paneer cut into small sized cubes and sauteed for just a bit and kept aside
b)
1/2 an inch of chopped ginger
10 garlic cloves
10 cashews
2 green chillies
4 onions chopped fine
2 cloves
1 small cinnamon stick
8 peppercorns
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
Fresh coriander for garnishing
c)
3 tomatoes
d)
1 tsp kasuri methi
3 tbsp of fresh cream
Method
In a pan take some oil and add the ginger, garlic, green chillies and cashews, saute till done, keep aside, now the onions and all the other spices mentioned need to be roasted well in the same pan, put all the above ingredients in a mixi jar to make a smooth paste remove and keep ready. In the same mixi jar take chopped tomatoes, make puree and keep aside.
In a pan take some oil, add the onion spices gravy, cook well, will not take too long since all the stuff has been roasted already, add the tomatoes, this will take a little time since it is raw, once cooked add the paneer, stir well, add the cream and the kasuri methi. Do not cook for too long because the paneer can tend to become rubbery. Your gravy is ready to be savoured now.
The Prasad
Prasad as it is called on the day of the Satyanarayan pooja. It is the halwa or the pudding made as an offering to the Lord. Made with lots of clarified butter and some aromatics. Here goes my mother's recipe. This one is never as good as the one she or my grandmom made...but keep trying is what one can do!!
2 cups of semolina roasted in half cup of clarified butter till it leaves an aroma and gets a lovely golden colour
2 cups milk
2 cups of sugar or as per your taste
4 green cardamoms freshly crushed
A few strands of saffron
1/2 nutmeg crushed
1 cup clarified butter for finishing off the dish
In a pan take three cups of water with the saffron, nutmeg and cardamom and keep it to boil, once it boils, add milk, it will soon boil, add the roasted semolina bit by bit stirring continuously to see that it does not form lumps. Once everything gets mixed well with no lumps, add sugar, let it cook after mixing well, add 1 cup clarified butter, let it cook a bit. Now add the rest of the clarified butter. Keep covered to cook well till the pudding or halwa leaves the pan and you can see the clarified butter. Now this is offered to the Lord garnished with roundels of banana and some holy basil leaves. This is eaten only after the pooja is done and that is why it called the prasad. Little is had after the pooja and then to your heart's content in your meal. Tastes too good with lime pickle.
Avacado Parathas
An invention dish, experi-mental one!! Avacado, I have eaten in many places in many dishes and liked it. I have made Guacamole and vegetables, sandwiches and a few more dishes with it. I tried the parathas and liked them. Thought I must share this one with all of you too. So....
Ingredients
A)
Pulp of 2 avacados
Salt as per taste
A bunch of parsley chopped
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp black pepper powder
3 crushed green chillies
1 tsp crushed ginger
B)
Whole wheat flour to be added later as per requirement
Method
In a big mixing bowl take ingredients A), mix well with your hands, now add wheat flour B) step by step to make a dough which can be rolled out into parathas, once ready drizzle with olive oil and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Heat a pan, make equal sized dough balls, roll them out and roast drizzled with olive oil to a nice colour on both sides. This is tasty as is or if you want you could eat some fried chillies or any sauce. Mayo spread on it would taste great too. The choice is yours. So get ready to savour the parathas.
Slow Cooked Pigeon Pea Lentil
A Maharashtrian delicacy eaten with jowar bhakri, slow cooked lentil with some spices. It is called Dal Methicha Varan In Marathi. Tastes best with a tempering of green chillies and lots of garlic cloves brown and crisp. This can be kept separately and served in each serving to retain the crunch in the garlic or mixed with the dal.
Ingredients
2 cups of pigeon pea lentil (toor dal), washed drained and kept ready
The ingredients can be crushed in a mortar pestle or they can be made into a coarse paste in the mixi jar
1/4 cup fresh scraped coconut
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
3 green chillies
4 garlic cloves
Salt to taste
Coriander for garnishing
10-15 garlic cloves whole, 3 slit green chilles, for the tempering (optional)
Method
In a pan take some oil and add mustard seeds, let them splutter then add turmeric, little more than we would regularly use, this is to give it the colour, add asafoetida, the crushed paste, saute it well till the raw smell goes away. Now add the lentil, add 2 cups of water and leave it to slow cook in the spice paste. You will have to keep checking and adding water till it cooks fully. You can cook it covered till it becomes mushy and then add salt and adjust the consistency. Enjoy with the garlic tempering, if you are a garlic lover then you are surely going to relish this one like I do. This picture below shows you the crisp garlic tempering.
Guava Juice
Juice made of ripe guavas with some taste enhancers, recipe by Ashwini my daughter. We enjoyed it and will be regular feature with us guava lovers. My husband specially enjoyed the juice with a twist. This is how I made it....
Take in a vessel 2 ripe guavas chopped roughly, a pinch of red chilli powder, salt to taste, 1 tsp ginger juice, few mint leaves crushed, a dash of lime, few ice cubes and blend with a hand blender, transfer to a serving jug, add as much water as required without making it too thin, it would then lose its taste. Ready to have at any hour of the day. Keeps you satiated for quite sometime!!
Classic Scrambled Egg On Toast
This is one of the classic American breakfast which includes classic scrambled egg on toast, mashed potatoes, pan seared cherry tomatoes and a tall glass of milk or juice. Specially when we are travelling I thoroughly enjoy this combination. I have pictured only the egg on toast. The colour looked so good and I felt it would disturb the picture so, I skipped picturing the accompaniments!! The credit for this dish goes to children Sony and Nidhi, they are the ones who taught me to make many such dishes. This is how I made it......
Ingredients
2 eggs with 2 table spoons of milk beaten till fluffy
Salt and pepper to taste
For the accompaniment
Some cherry tomatoes pan seared with butter and salt
1 potato mashed with salt, pepper and a little butter
Some chopped parsley to sprinkle on the toast (optional)
Method
In a pan take some butter, add the beaten egg, sprinkle some salt and pepper, stir very gently, let it set a bit and stir again and mix, do not let it dry, it should be soft, fluffy and moist. Now spread this on the toast and serve with the above mentioned accompaniments.
