ChanaMasala

This is my Mum's recipe and all of us enjoy it made this way, I can remember my college days at Bengaluru in VHD institute of Home Science we had a canteen day, our batch would cook in the college canteen on Thursdays and my Chana Masala and Carrot Halwa were big hits!!

Ingredients
200 gms of kabuli chana soaked previous night, pressure cooked with salt and little edible soda
3 onions finely chopped
2 tablespoons of tamarind pulp
1 tspn cumin powder
1 tspn coriander powder
1 tspn pepper powder
1 tspn garlic paste
1 tspn ginger paste
1 tspn chilli powder
Salt to taste
Finely chopped coriander for garnishing

Method

Take oil in a bottomed pan put the ginger garlic paste, saute a bit, add onions cook it till brown, add all powders, the salt (add salt with care since we added it while cooking the chana), tamarind paste cook well then add the boiled chana, stir mix well and see if it is too thick then add little water to make it a required consistency. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander, serve with pooris or bhaturas. Enjoy accompanied with freshly chopped onion, tomato and sauteed green chilli.

 Double Beans Curry

A delicious curry which can be had with rice, roti, phulka and paratha. The beans when used fresh give amazing taste. You can  soak and use dry ones too, when they go out of season. 

Ingredients

250 gms of double beans, soaked overnight and pressure cooked to 2 whistles the next day, if they are the dry variety, if fresh then they are ready to use.let mix well, add salt to taste

For making into a paste you will need
1/2 cup coconut freshly scraped
2 onions roughly chopped
2 tomatoes roughly chopped
1 inch ginger roughly chopped
1 tspn of black peppercorns
1 tspn of cumin seeds
Small spoon of turmeric powder
3 -4 sprigs of fresh coriander
3 cloves

Do not add these ingredients while  grinding
Salt to taste
1 tspn of chilli powder
1 tspn of malwani masala

Method
In a cooker take coconut oil, you can use any other refined oil if not coconut, add cumin seeds, let them splutter, add turmeric, add the ground paste and let this cook till it releases oil, now add the other powders, salt to taste, the beans too, if they are precooked then do not throw away the water in which they were soaked, if they are fresh then adjust the quantity of water as per curry consistency. Pressure cook to two whistles and serve after transferring into a serving bowl and garnishing with fresh coriander.

                                                                 
                                                                    Bittergourd Dry

This can be had as an accompaniment in your meal when the main dish is a curry, or it can be savored with curd rice also.

Ingredients

4 tender bitter gourds, choose light coloured ones, a little smaller in size, so the bitterness is less and also then they don't need to be kept in salt water before cooking. Normally I neither scrape them nor do I boil them in salt water.

1/2 cup dry grated coconut, 1/2 cup sesame seeds,  1/2 cup peanuts dry roasted and ground to a coarse powder with 

1 tspn of aamchur
1 tspn of Goda Masala
1 tspn of sugar
1 tspn of chilli powder
Salt to taste
Fresh chopped coriander 

Method

Chop the bitter gourds into roundels, after deseeding them. Boil them in plain water just to soften them a little so we don't need to use too much oil while cooking them.

In a pan take oil, add the chopped parboiled bitter gourds, saute till light golden, add all the masalas and the ground powder, the coriander too, keep cooking till the rawness of all the ingredients disappears and the gourd becomes light brown in the spices. Cook on a slow flame so the spices do not burn. Now transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with coriander if you wish to. I have skipped the garnish since I added the coriander while cooking.

Melon Feta Salad

A very refreshing easy crunchy salad!

In a mixing bowl you need to take
1/2 cup watermelon pieces
1/2 cup cucumber pieces
1/2 cup tomato pieces
1/2 cup musk melon pieces
1 bunch of salad leaves roughly broken
1/4 cup feta cheese broken roughly or crumbled
1/4 cup olives
2 tablespoons of olive io
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
Salt to taste
Black pepper powder

Mix all ingredients well and serve chilled.

                                                           
                                                                  Stuffed Sweet Poli

                                     Indian flat bread with a stuffing of dry figs and cashews, lovely cashews brought  straight from Goa by my sweet friend Rachana. She always the first one to like my recipes and share my links. A big thanks to her for the appreciation and love. It is people like you who keep us motivated to do better and post new recipes. Thanks once again dear.

Ingredients

 For the dough I used normal whole wheat chapati dough, make it and let it sit for about half an hour.

For the stuffing

6 pieces of the dry figs, easily available at the dry fruit store
1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup of milk
All the above to be blended ( not too smooth) to a mixture

Method

In a pan take the blended mixture, add sugar, take care of how much sugar to add, since the figs in itself are quite sweet, cook it till it becomes into a semi hard mixture. The texture should be not too wet, not too dry, you should be able to stuff this into the dough ball. Cool and make into small equal sized ball. Now stuff each dough ball with the mixture, very gently roll out into a thin roti and roast with ghee on the pan. Roast as shown in the picture and savour it with the blob of  home made ghee which will melt slowly on the hot roti.

While roasting, the aroma of the dryfruit and the ghee is so inviting, it is heavenly to savour this with the home made ghee!!

                                     
                                          Mushrooms in slow roasted tomato and basil gravy

A sure experi-mental dish, I thought of trying this when I saw lots of  lovely sweet basil growing in my tiny balcony. I had tasted the slow roasted tomato basil soup in one of my favourite restaurants and loved the flavour. My son loves pepper of any kind, black, white, red, green fresh ones, so I have used 2 kinds of pepper and cloves, the only  aromatics  to add to the aroma of basil. 

Ingredients
250 gms of mushrooms cleaned chopped and sauteed with a little salt

2 tomatoes chopped into roundels
2 sprigs of sweet basil or about 10 to 12 leaves
2 onions chopped into thin long pieces
1 inch ginger crushed
6 cloves of garlic
1 tspn chilli powder
1 tspn of black peppercorns, 1 tspn of white peppercorns, 3 cloves pounded in a mortar pestle

3  green chillies slit in between for the garnish

Method

On a flat pan smear a bit of oil and arrange the basil and the tomato roundels to roast on a slow flame, flip and cook each piece and leaf till done

Meanwhile in another  take some oil, add the pounded spices, saute a bit till the aroma spreads in the 
kitchen,  add the garlic saute till light brown, add the ginger and  the onions, cook this till it turns golden brown. Now blend all the ingredients to a smooth paste, this includes the tomato basil too.

In the same pan as you cooked  the masala add the paste and cook till done, no need of oil since the ingredients have already been cooked in oil, cook till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan. Add the mushrooms and salt  and add water if required. 

For the final garnish I have used only a bit of oil and the slit chillies.

Serve with roti, phulka, rice or paratha. What will hit your palate first is the pepper, what remains on your tongue after eating it is the sweet aroma of the basil.

Got good pictures of the basil flower, felt like sharing them with all of you.

Egg curry with spring onion

A curry which is a big hit in my family, I remember the huge vessel in which this would be made by mom and would be polished off within no time, the credit for the recipe goes to her. Can be eaten with roti, rice, bread or phulkas

6 eggs boiled chopped into halves and kept ready

Ingredients for the masala powder which u can make and store
100 gms black peeper, green cardomom, cloves, cinammon, shahijeera, cumin seeds

50 gms nakesar, bayleaf, pattharphool, rampatri.
Dry all these in the sun and grind to a fine powder

Ingredients to pressure cook
1 cup pigeon pea lentil or tur dal
1 bunch of the spring onion, only half of the green leafy portion finely chopped (the rest will be used in the tempering)

For the gravy
Grind to a fine paste
One onion 3-4 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons full of groundnuts
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
7/8 black peppercorns
4 green chillies
1/2 an inch of ginger
2 normal onions cut fine kept aside
Chopped baby shallots
Coriander finely chopped for garnishing
Salt to taste

Method

In a pan take some oil, add the finely chopped onions saute till pink in colour add the ground paste, cook till the masala leaves the pan. Add the finely chopped onions and the baby shallots from the spring onions, cook till the onions become transparent, saute half the spring onions too which we kept aside, now add 1 teaspoon of the ground masala powder, little more if u like it stronger, as per ur taste since the powder is in itself quite strong. Mix well add the cooked dal and spring onion mixture , add water as per required consistency, depending upon whether u are eating it with rice or roti. Add salt as per taste. Give it a nice boil, u can now add the eggs and cook for a while, serve garnished with finely chopped coriander. You can saute the eggs just for a bit before adding them to the curry if you wish to.

Egg curry with spring onion

A curry which is a big hit in my family, I remember the huge vessel in which this would be made by mom and would be polished off within no time, the credit for the recipe goes to her. Can be eaten with roti, rice, bread or phulkas

6 eggs boiled chopped into halves and kept ready

Ingredients for the masala powder which u can make and store
100 gms black peeper, green cardomom, cloves, cinammon, shahijeera, cumin seeds

50 gms nakesar, bayleaf, pattharphool, rampatri.
Dry all these in the sun and grind to a fine powder

Ingredients to pressure cook
1 cup pigeon pea lentil or tur dal
1 bunch of the spring onion, only half of the green leafy portion finely chopped (the rest will be used in the tempering)

For the gravy
Grind to a fine paste
One onion 3-4 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons full of groundnuts
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
7/8 black peppercorns
4 green chillies
1/2 an inch of ginger
2 normal onions cut fine kept aside
Chopped baby shallots
Coriander finely chopped for garnishing
Salt to taste

Method

In a pan take some oil, add the finely chopped onions saute till pink in colour add the ground paste, cook till the masala leaves the pan. Add the finely chopped onions and the baby shallots from the spring onions, cook till the onions become transparent, saute half the spring onions too which we kept aside, now add 1 teaspoon of the ground masala powder, little more if u like it stronger, as per ur taste since the powder is in itself quite strong. Mix well add the cooked dal and spring onion mixture , add water as per required consistency, depending upon whether u are eating it with rice or roti. Add salt as per taste. Give it a nice boil, u can now add the eggs and cook for a while, serve garnished with finely chopped coriander. You can saute the eggs just for a bit before adding them to the curry if you wish to.

Raw Banana Subzi

Ingredients

4 raw bananas peeled and cut into medium sized long pieces, sauteed in .coconut oil till light brown adding salt as required

For the masala
4 green chillies
2 raw green tomatoes chopped roughly
2 onions chopped roughly
1/2 cup freshly scraped coconut
1 inch ginger
6 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons of cumin seeds
All the above ingredients should be put in a chutney jar and ground into a smooth paste

Method
In a kadhai, take little coconut oil , pour the ground paste, cook for a while adding little water if the gravy is too thick, once it leaves the sides of the kadhai add the already sauteed banana, add little salt if required, mix well, drizzle little coconut oil on top, garnish with finely chopped coriander and serve with phulka, roti as per choice.

                                                     
                                                        Vegetable made of broad beans

A very tasty accompaniment with phulkas, specially if the beans are fresh this dish gives the best taste.

Ingredients

250 gms of broad beans, deveined, chopped into small pieces and pressure cooked to 1 whistle with minimal quantity of water, so you don't need to throw it away while tempering the vegetable.
Salt to taste
1/2 tspn chilli powder
1 tspn goda masala easily available in the market
1 tbspn of jaggery
1/2 cup freshly scraped coconut
Coriander for garnishing

For the dry powder

Dry roast 1/4 cup peanuts and peel them, 1/4 cup dry grated coconut, 1/4 cup white sesame seeds, once cool grind all these into a coarse powder and keep ready.

In a pan take some oil and add mustard seeds, allow them to splutter and add turmeric powder and asafoetida, add the broad beans and with a little water in which they were pressure cooked, add all the above mentioned ingredients, I have added the coriander too while cooking itself. Cover and cook till the jaggery melts, mix well, see that it is moist enough and serve hot with phulkas.  

                                                                   
                                                                    Creamy Rabdi

  A very Indian, very delicious creamy delight of a dessert. Can be enjoyed as it is or with hot puris.

As I put up this post, I travel back in memory when I was a child. I loved anything to do with cream, fresh thick layer of cream when my mom or grandmom heated the milk early morning!! I would just pick up the whole layer and gobble it up within seconds! The first coffee of the day would be  made for me by my mom full with a layer of cream, My mom's gone and so is the layer of cream on my coffee.My brothers called me Billi beacuse I ate so much cream and also scratched them with my enamelled nails... he he..koi lauta de mere beete hue din.

I have wandered off  to another story instead of giving you the recipe! So here comes....

Ingredients

2 litres of low fat milk or skimmed milk
1 cup of sugar, you can use sugar free but the taste will not be the same
Few strands of saffron
1/4 of a nutmeg grated freshly
Some blueberries soaked in water for garnishing
The almonds I have used have come out of the dry apricots

Method 

Take a kadhai big enough to fit the two litres of milk, wash with water but do not wipe dry because this helps the milk not to catch the bottom. Pour the milk in the kadhai and bring it to a boil constantly stirring till it boils, now leave it to form a layer of cream on top, now stir gently without breaking the layer in to very small pieces. This process must continue every time the layer forms till the milk reduces to a stage where it holds in the spoon and does not remain flowy, now add the sugar, the saffron strands and grate the nutmeg directly into the mixture, stir well till the sugar melts and the aromatics get infused. Take it off the flame, transfer to a serving bowl, bring it to room temperature, garnish chill and serve the yummy delight.