Ginger Rice

A dish which I saw on a regional cookery show is worth a share, more so, since I am myself a rice lover. I could survive all my life with all types of rice dishes!

Ingredients

2 cups rice

2 onions chopped into small pieces

1 small piece of cinamon

2 marathi moggu, a spice used in many south Indian dishes

1 small spoon of mustard seeds

1 small spoon of turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Few curry leaves

Coriander for garnishing

For grinding

1/2 cup fresh grated coconut

4 green chillies

1 inch ginger

6 garlic cloves

2 tspoons of cumin seeds

10-12 curry leaves

Juice of 1 lemon

Grind all the above together into a fine paste and keep ready

Method

In a cooker take 2 table soopns of oil, add mustard seeds let them splutter add turmeric powder, the marathi moggu, cinamon, give it a stir, add the chopped onion let it turn golden brown, add the ground paste and lat it cook till it loses the raw smell, now add the rice, lemon juice, salt to taste, 4 cups of water, mix well and let it cook to two whistles. Garnish with fresh coriander, serve hot with any curry, curd, pickle of your choice.

Curry made of Green Gram and Whole Red Lentil

Ingredients
Both the lentils 1/2 cup each mixed and pressure cooked to two whistles
Fresh coriander for garnishing
1 onion chopped into long thin pieces

For the masala
1 onion chopped into thin long pieces

4 cloves of garlic

3 dry red chillies

1/4 cup grated dry coconut

1/4 inch piece of ginger

1 tspoonful of sesame seeds

1 tspoon cumin seeds

1/2 tspoon coriander seeds

1/2 tsp

4 black peppercorns

2 cloves

1 small piece of cassia bark ( A little thicker version of cinnamon stick)

Method

In a pan take little oil and add the dry spices, roast them little till you get the aroma, remove in a mixer vessel, now roast the coconut, add in the vessel, now roast the onion, garlic and ginger to a little brown colour and add this too. Grind to a dry dry coarse mixture without adding any water.

In the same pan now take a little oil and add the masala and a little turmeric powder, then add the ground mixture, saute a bit. Add the pressure cooked ingredients, mix well, add water to make it into a curry consistency. Add the onion chopped into long pieces and then add salt as required, bring it to a boil, garnish with coriander leaves, serve with phulkas, rice or roti.

Flowercha Rassa 

Spicy cauliflower curry which was a favourite with my family, specially made by my mother on holidays when the whole family could eat together, beautiful aroma filling the whole house inviting us to the table for a meal which would be complete with a super quick inflow of hot hot puris. A huge vessel of curry with a dash of lime would actually be devoured within minutes!! Mother is no more and so is the taste, no more! I make it, but the special touch is and will be missed always.

Ingredients

1 kg cauliflower, cut into medium sized florets kept intact, parboiled
Corriander leaves for garnishing
1/2 a lime for sqeezing over the dish

Ingredients for grinding into a smooth paste

3 onions chopped into thin long pieces
1/2 cup grated dry coconut
6 dry red chillies or 4 green chillies, the choice between the two chillies makes a slight difference in the taste and a major difference in the colour of the curry
som corriander leaves
8 garlic cloves
1 inch of ginger
8 peppercorns
1 tspoon of corriander seeds
1 tspoon of cumin seeds
3 cloves
A small piece of cinamon
1 small bay leaf
Salt to taste, 

In  a pan first take all the dry spices and roast them in a little oil, remove in the mixer vessel, in the same oil now roast the garlic , ginger, coconut and onions and corriander till they turn light brown add this to the already roasted dry spices and grind to a smooth paste.
In a kadhai take oil ad the ground paste and cook till it leaves the sides of the kadhai, add salt as required and now add the cauliflower and water to make it into a curry cover and boil till the cauliflower gets fully cooked. By the end of cooking the florets get well coloured and well flavoured. The curry now is ready to be devoured with a dash of lime and  piping hot puris for accompaniment.  



  

Egg Masala

The credit for this dish goes to our friend Shaheena. She was my husband's professor in pharmacy college Kalina. She went on to become a very good family friend and we still are good friends. She taught me many different methods of cooking food  in their style. This is one of the dishes which was made specially for me since I am an eggitarian. I truly enjoyed eating it and making it.

Ingredients

6 eggs boiled and chopped into two halves breadthwise
1 whole pod of garlic, peeled and minced
1 inch of ginger minced
4 green chillies minced
3 onions chopped into super fine pieces
1 small bunch of finely chopped fresh coriander
Salt to taste
Dark soy sauce to taste
Ajinomoto if you like it or can be optional

In a pan take oil and ad the minced garlic, ginger and saute a bit, add the green chillies wait for the whole mixture to become slightly brown, add the onions and make them golden brown too. Now add the eggs, salt, coriander, say sauce and ajinomoto which is optional. Mix well. Let everything get well done and the masala coat all the pieces of the egg. Serve garnished with coriander. Savour it with hot phulkas or any kind of pulao.

Baby Potatoes in Herbed Garlic Amul Butter

Ingredients

250 gms baby poatatoes, boiled, peeled and pierced on all sides with a fork
1/4 pack of herbed garlic amul butter
1 bunch of fresh parsley finely chopped 
1 bunch, medium sized, of fresh coriander finely chopped
5/6 green chillies roughly crushed in the mortar pestle
salt to taste
2 table spoons of olive oil

Method

First take the ready potatoes, melt some herbed garlic butter in a kadhai, pour it on the potatoes which are pierced, keep this for about half an hour.
Now in a kadhai, take olive oil add the crushed chillies, cook for a bit then add the parsley, satee a bit add the coriander, sautee a bit lastly add the potatoes, salt to taste, sautee well  till a nice crust forms on them.
These can be eaten as a starter or you can stuff them in burger buns, or roll them in chapati and have them too. We loved them hope you like them too.

Egg Fenugreek Fried Rice

A simple dish but with an addition of fresh fenugreek leaves. The dish got a very nice taste and twist to it which makes me share it with you. I tried it on an impulse and enjoyed eating it.

Ingredients

1 cup long grain rice cooked cooled and ready for preparing, cook with salt and a few drops of oil, so the rice grains are separate.
2 eggs
1 cup finely chopped fenugreek leaves
1/2  a cup finely chopped corriander
4 green chillies chopped into long thin pieces
A pinch of ajinomoto, I personally like any chinese preparation with the distinct taste of ajinomoto.
1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
 Salt to taste, add carefully since we already cooked the rice with salt and also soy sauce has enough salt in it too.

Method

In a wok take some oil, add the chillies, sautee a bit, break the eggs into it, add salt, ajinomoto, pepper powder, stir to make a semi cooked kind of scramble, add the corriander and fenugreek now, let everything cook well together, once the scramble is ready ad the rice, salt if required, ajinomoto if you like a strong taste or you can skip it, soy sauce, stir to mix well and serve with ant chinese dry dish or a gravy. I prefer eating it as it is.

Paneer  Vegetable Makhani

We all have I am sure tasted Makhani in all varieties like, Dal Makhani, Paneer Makhani, Vegetable Makhani, Chicken Makhani. I too like this dish a lot. I have made my own version of it here, hope you all try this and enjoy eating it as well.

Ingredients

1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup french beans chopped into small pieces crossways
!/2 cup carrots chopped into small pieces similar to french beans
1/2 cup paneer chopped into medium sized pieces
I pressure cooked all these together to only one whistle

For the masala

Roughly pound in a mortar pestle
1/2 an inch of ginger
4 garlic cloves
3 green chillies
6 peppercorns
3 cloves
keep this ready

For the gravy

3 finely chopped onions
2 medium sized tomatoes finely chopped
Salt to taste
!/2 tspoon sugar, just for balancing the pungency
1 tspoon Garam Masala
1 cup cream, if diet concious you can use thick yogurt

2 tablespoons of Amul Butter for the tempering of the gravy

Freshly chopped corriander for the garnish

Method

In a deep bottomed vessel take the butter, add the pounded ingredients, once they turn light brown add the onions, sautee till golden brown, add the tomatoes and all the dry masalas, cook till it becomes evenly mixed and soft, add little water bit by bit to see that the masalas do not burn, once cooked well add the vegetables and add water if required, cook till everything mixes well, add the yogurt or cream according to choice, after adding this cook it for only sometime because the yogurt or cream can curdle. Now garnish with coriander and serve with paratha.

Dosa with Mysore masala chutney and potato bhaji.

This dish brings to my mind my father-in-law, who was a father to me. I spent 25 years of my life more as a daughter than a daughter-in-law. So, I was mentioning the connection of The Dosa with my FIL. Whenever dosas were made, I would finish serving everybody and at the end he would make dosas and give me! This gave me a break and also made me feel good. After my ma-in-law passed away, children would be at school, my husband at work and most of the days it was my FIL and me for the mid-morning tea and lunch. Then he would tell me all about his police life, his adventures in RAW and talk about all things we could think of. We fought, we argued, we screamed at each other and everything and this is what made the father daughter bond stronger. I still had a hand that blessed me.Then came a day when he left us and I, with my mum, dad and ma-in-law gone already, felt orphaned!  From then onwards started my journey of learning to live alone. I have successfully learnt the art, though each one of them is missed truly! Now for the dosas and the recipe.

For the batter, soak 1cup udad dal, 1/2 cup toor dal and 3 cups of rice for 7-8 hours and then grind it to a paste, keep it to ferment overnight. Make dosas next day by adding water to make a dosa batter consistency, add salt, little sugar, a dash of methi powder.

For the chutney, grind together half scraped coconut, four dry red chillies, four cloves of garlic, two table spoons of fried gram (it is yellow chutney dal), some tamarind pulp and salt to taste.

For the potato bhaji, boil four medium sized potatoes peel and cut into squares, temper with mustard seeds, turmeric, asefoetida, grated ginger, finely cut green chillies and one teaspoon of black gram dal (udad dal), saute little, add potatoes, salt to taste, little bit of sugar and squeeze half a lime.Mix and cook for five minutes,garnish with fresh green coriander finely chopped. And enjoy the tasty South Indian breakfast!

 This dosa can be savoured also by spreading the chutney on it just before removing it from the pan.

Vegetable Biryani 

This biryani is something that I make for myself since I love it the most. Not the authentic type of biryani, but easy quick and delicious dish which can be made in a hurry when you have limited ingredients and unexpected  guests. A complete meal with vegetables and the salad which is made to go with it. I got to learn this from  Mr.Shabbir's Ammiji at Bengaluru where I ate it made by her. She gave amazing tips and I actually loved the way she taught me to make it, so simple and so delicious! Nothing like the old ways of cooking. 

Ingredients

2 cups of long grain basmati rice
1/2 cup peas
1/4 cup of carrots chopped crossways into medium pieces
!/4 cup french beans chopped crossways into medium pieces 
2 tspoons of ginger garlic paste
2 onions finely chopped
2 tomatoes finely chopped 
4 cloves
 1/2 an inch  of cinammon stick
1/2 tspoon of black pepper
1 tspoon of cumin seeds
1 tspoon of coriander seeds
2 tspoons of chilli powder, use kashmiri if you do not want the dish to be too hot
Juice of one lemon
1 tspoon of cumin seeds, 1/2 a small tspoon of turmeric powder and 2 tablespoons clarified butter for the tempering in which the rice will be made.


Method

First in a mixer jar take 1 finely chopped onion, 1 tomato finely chopped, cinammon stick, cloves, cumin seeds,, coriander seeds, pepper corns, chilli powder, lemon jiuce and grind into a fine paste. Keep this ready.

In a cooker take the clarified butter or ghee, add the cumin seeds wait till they splutter, add the turmeric powder, the ginger garlic paste, sautee well, add the onion, sautee till light brown, add the tomato, cook till it softens, add the ground paste, sautee till it leaves the sides of the cooker, add the rice, the vegetables and salt as per taste, stir and mix for a bit and then add 4 cups of water, cover and cook to two whistles. the rice should not be sticky, serve garnished with fresh coriander finely chopped. 

There are options for egglovers to spread pieces of boiled egg over the biryani while serving it or then top it with onions which are chopped into thin long pieces and fried.

The salad to go with it is called pachdi, it is made of thick yogurt, onions chopped into thin long pieces, finely chopped green chilli, salt, and fresh finely chopped coriander.




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