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.

                                                     
                                                           Curry with Southern Flavours

This curry has some typically southern ingredients and the flavour that lingers on your tongue after eating it is of the nutty sweet coconut. Hope you enjoy making and savoring another of my experi-mental dishes.

Ingredients

Florets of 1 broccoli, par boiled and kept aside

1/2 cup fresh mushrooms chopped into medium sized pieces
1/2 each of yellow, green and red bell peppers chopped into medium sized squares

For the gravy
2 big onions chopped into long pieces
2 big tomatoes chopped into long pieces
2 tspns of ginger garlic freshly crushed
2 tspoons of white peppercorns, 3 cloves freshly cpounded ( the ones I bought straight from the  spice shop at Coorg )   
1/2 cup freshly scraped coconut
A handful of curry leaves
1 tspn chilli powder

1 cup thick coconut milk to be used later to add in the gravy

Method

In a pan take some coconut oil and add the chopped bell peppers and the mushrooms, give them a quick stir on slightly high flame, remove once done and keep aside. 

In the same pan take the freshly crushed ginger, garlic, peppercorns and cloves saute till done, now add the curry leaves, onions and the coconut, saute well, add tomatoes and wait till they are soft. Once done, cool and grind this mixture to a smooth paste.

Transfer this into the pan and let it cook well till the gravy leaves the sides of the pan, now add the salt, the chilli powder, and all the vegetables, adjust the consistency, let it cook to a boil, now add the coconut milk, do not keep for too long after adding the coconut milk else it may curdle. You can use fresh corinder for garnishing. I have used fresh tomato pieces and a tempering of slit green chillies. Can be eaten with phulkas, rotis, malbar parathas, and our own simple steaming hot plain rice.