Spiced Raw Banana Curry with Tamarind Paste

I love this curry that Mom makes with raw banana. This is a dish from the Palakaad region and it goes very well with Molagootal (vegetables cooked with coconut and dal).  

Spiced Raw Banana Curry with Tamarind Paste

 
5 raw banana
2 red chilies
1 tbsp raw rice
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1 sprig curry leaves
1 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
pinch hing
salt
oil

Peel and cut banana into 1" long pieces. Add water, tamarind paste, turmeric powder and salt and boil till banana is just done.  Drain water and keep aside. Roast dry raw rice and red chilies in a pan till rice starts turning brown. Cool and then grind to a coarse powder. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, urad dal, hing and curry leaves. When urad dal is slightly brown, add the cooked raw banana and fry for two seconds. Add the powder and mix well. Fry for few minutes. Serve hot with rice.

Paneer in hot garlic sauce

Paneer in Hot Garlic Sauce
(Adapted from Nita Mehta's zero oil recipes)

This recipe uses lot of tomato ketchup and the ketchup overpowers the taste of other ingredients. Everyone loved the dish but next time I will reduce the quantity of ketchup.

1 cup paneer (tofu) - cut into cubes or triangles
4 cloves garlic
1 dry, red chilli - deseeded and chopped
1 small onion - chopped
1 capsicum - cut into tiny cubes
5 tbsps ketchup
1 tsp red chili sauce (I used sriracha)
1 tbsp soya sauce
1/2 tsp pepper
salt
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp vinegar
2 tbsp cornflour mixed with 1/2 cup water

To prepare garlic sauce, peel and mash the garlic well. Heat pan. Add garlic and red chili bits. Remove from fire and stir till garlic starts to change color. Keep pan back on flame and add onion and cook till soft.
Add ketchup, red chili sauce, soya sauce, pepper and salt. Cook for 1 minute on low heat. Add sugar and vinegar. Add capsicum, salt and 1 1/2 cup water. Give one boil. Add cornflour paste, stirring all the time. Add paneer and cook for 2 minutes. Serve hot with rice.

Chocolate Fudge

Ma used to make her version of chocolate fudge often when we were kids. I got the recipe from her and have tried making it many times but I never get the texture right. Most times the fudge comes out soft and sticky. I asked Ma to make it today and the fudge turned out just perfect. Trick is to turn off gas at the right moment. A minute earlier and the fudge will be soft and sticky. A minute later and the fudge will be too hard. Hopefully I will get it right someday!

Chocolate Fudge

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp cocoa (sugarless)
13 tbsp milk powder
3 tbsp unsalted butter

Sieve cocoa and milk powder together. Make sugar syrup to one thread consistency. For this, mix sugar and water in a heavy bottomed pan and set to boil on medium flame. Once sugar dissolves, keep checking consistency of syrup. To do this, dip a spatula into the syrup and lift it out. Allow to cool for few seconds and then touch the syrup with forefinger and then touch your thumb and forefinger together and pull it apart gently. When a single thread is formed and does not break then one thread consistency has been reached. Add cocoa and milk powder mixture to this, stirring constantly (on medium flame). Add butter and keep stirring. If too dry, add 1-2 tbsps water. When it is thick enough (this should approx. take 25-30 minutes), turn off gas and pour onto greased plate. When slightly cool, cut into pieces.
You can also add chopped nuts (cashews and almonds) to the fudge.

Vatha Kuzhambu

I was telling Ma that we do not get small onions here so she brought small onions with her this time. And that too peeled!!! She made some yummy onion sambar one day. Then the other day she made vatha kuzhambu with it. I love vatha kuzhambu but K does not like it so I do not make it often. Now that Ma and Pa are here, I can have vatha kuzhambu every day.

Vatha Kuzhambu

1/ 3 cup small onions, peeled
1 tsp urad dal
1 sprig curry leaves
1 tsp sambar powder
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 1/2 tsp tamarind paste
1 tbsp sesame oil
salt
small piece of jaggery (optional)

Heat oil in a pan. Add urad dal and mustard seeds. When mustard seeds splutter, add curry leaves, turmeric powder and sambar powder. Fry for few seconds, then add onions. Fry for a minute. Add tamarind paste, salt, jaggery and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes. If very watery, mix 2 tsps rice flour with little water and add to the kuzhambu. Simmer till you get the desired thickness. Serve hot with rice.

Egg Korma

Here is the other recipe I tried from the magazine that Mom bought yesterday. If you do not eat eggs, then make the korma with paneer or mixed vegetables instead. 

Egg Korma
 

 2 eggs
1/4 cup grated coconut
1 green chili
1/4 tsp black cumin seeds (shah jeera)
1 onion
1 tomato
small piece ginger
1 garlic clove
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
1/8 tsp cumin powder
1/8 tsp coriander powder
a pinch chili powder
1/4 tsp garam masala powder
handful coriander leaves
1 sprig curry leaves
oil
salt

Boil eggs, shell, make slashes all around and keep aside. Chop onions, tomatoes, ginger and garlic and slit green chili. Heat oil in a pan. Fry the onions till transparent. Then, add chili, ginger and garlic and fry till they turn brown. Add the tomatoes and fry till pulpy. Add turmeric, coriander, cumin and chili powder and saute for a while. Meanwhile, grind coconut and shah jeera till smooth. I added little of the onion tomato mixture while blending to get a thicker paste. Add this to the pan and fry till raw smell goes. Add 1 cup water and salt and bring to a boil. Slip in the boiled eggs and simmer for few minutes, till gravy reaches desired thickness. Sprinkle garam masala and mix gently. Garnish with curry leaves and coriander leves. Serve hot with rice.

Rajasthani Bhindi

Mom got some magazine yesterday and it has some really nice recipes. I have already tried two recipes from this magazine and both came out well. I will post the recipe for the other dish (Egg korma) tomorrow. 

Rajasthani Bhindi

250 gms lady's finger
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp onion seeds (I did not add this)
1/4 tsp red chili powder
3 tsp besan
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp amchur
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 1/2 tsp saunf
2 tbsps oil
salt to taste

Wash the lady fingers and then wipe them. Chop off the two ends of the lady's finger and then slit them in half. Mix all the dry masalas, besan and 1 tsp of the saunf. Add salt and little oil to this and mix well. Mix this masala mixture with the lady's finger. Heat oil. Put cumin seeds and the remaining saunf and fry for a minute. Add the lady's finger and stir fry for 5 minutes. Lower heat, cover and cook till done, stirring occassioanlly. Remove the cover, and stir fry for few minutes more till lady's finger are crisp. Serve hot.

Vegetable Noodle Soup

One more soup for those chilly evenings. This one is from Sanjeev Kapoor's Noodles and Pasta cookbook. I followed the recipe closely, only slightly increasing the quantity of vegetables used. I also did not add the red chili and MSG though I have included this in the ingredients list. I seasoned the soup with black pepper while in the original recipe white pepper was used.

Vegetable Noodle Soup

 
6 button mushrooms, finely sliced
1 medium carrot, grated
1 green pepper, cut into thin strips
10 spinach leaves, finely shredded
1 handful eggless noddles
1 tbsp oil
1 garlic cloves, crushed
1 dried red chili, seeded and shredded
4-5 cups vegetable stock (recipe below)
1/4 tsp MSG (optional)
black pepper powder, to taste
salt, to taste
1 tbsp white vinegar

Heat oil in a wok or pan. Add garlic and stir fry for half minute. Add mushrooms, carrot and green pepper and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add red chili and immediately stir in the stock. Bring the mixture to a boil, add noodles, lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add MSG, pepper and salt to taste. Stir in the vinegar and shredded spinach leaves, cook for 1 minute and serve hot.

Vegetable Stock - Peel and chop 1 onion, 1 carrot, one spring onion and 2 garlic cloves. Place in a pan with 1 bay leaf, 5 peppercorns, 2 cloves, and 6 cups of water and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain, and use in soup. Do not throw the vegetables. Puree and mix it with gravy for some other curry.