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.

Brrr, it's cold! I need soup...

Nothing like a hot bowl of soup to warm those chilly winter evenings. I make tomato soup very often. Just a quick and simple soup. For a thicker and creamier version, I sometimes add white sauce to the soup.

Cream of Tomato soup

2 tomatoes
1 carrot
1 potato
1 clove garlic (optional)

Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
1/2 cup White sauce
Basil leaves, for garnishing

Pressure cook tomatoes, carrot and potato with 2 cups water. Once cool, drain (save the liquid) and puree. Meanwhile make the white sauce and keep aside. Heat olive oil, fry garlic (optional), add the puree and the reserved liquid. Season with salt and pepper. Add the white sauce, stir well and simmer for few minutes. Garnish with basil leaves.

Red lentils and brown rice soup

I got brown rice recently and I was looking for recipes with brown rice. 101cookbooks had a nice soup recipe and I made this soup last week. I was telling Mom about this and she told me it sounded like kanji (rice porridge) that she used to have when she was young. She used to eat it plain while this soup is topped with olive oil, cheese, almonds and black olives. This delicious soup makes a great one-pot meal. I followed the recipe closely.

2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
6 cups vegetable stock or water (I used 2 maggi cubes)
1 1/3 cup red lentils
1/2 cup brown rice
salt if required (I did not need to add any salt as the broth was very salty)

For garnish
black olives, finely chopped
cheese

I first soaked the brown rice for 4 hours and the lentils for 1 hour though the recipe did not say anything about soaking. In a pot, combine olive oil, onion, and red pepper flakes. Fry till onion becomes brown. Stir in the broth, bring to a boil, then add rice and the lentils. Simmer for 30 minutes or till rice is cooked. Serve each bowl topped with olives, cheese and olive oil.

Sabudana khichdi

Sabudana khichdi is one of K's favorite dish (if made right) and I got this recipe from my MIL. It is very important to get the texture of the sago right. There are times the sago becomes a sticky lump and other times when it is too dry and hard. Trick is to soak the sago well and the method given in the recipe below works for me. But the soaking time might differ with different brands of sago so just keep trying till you get it right.

Sabudana khichdi 

1 1/2 cups sago, soaked and drained
1/2 cup peanuts, roasted and ground coarsely
2 big potatoes, boiled and mashes
2 green chilies, chopped
1 tbsp cumin seeds
3-4 tbsps oil
coriander leaves, chopped, for garnishing

Wash the sago, and soak it in just enough water for 2 hours. Drain, spread the sago on a plate and keep it aside for minimum 1 hour. Keep the plate covered so that the moisture is retained. Heat oil and add cumin seeds. When they splutter, add green chilies. Then add potatoes, peanuts, salt and mix well. Add sabudana, mix well, and cook on low flame for 5 minutes. The sago was tender and moist and hence in 5 minutes the dish was ready. But if you think the sago is not fully cooked, cover and keep on gas for longer time (maybe 10-15 minutes), stirring once in while. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Methi Paneer Buns

I usually have lunch pretty early and by 3 in the evening I feel very hungry. Never know what to make for my evening snack. It cannot be too heavy but it should also fill my stomach. No fried stuff. Nothing too sweet. You see my problem........  Luckily I found this recipe. Methi paneer bun is a perfect evening snack and I will be making these quite often.

Methi Paneer Buns (makes 8-10)

For the recipe go here . I only changed one thing. Instead of 2 cups paneer, I added 1 cup paneer and 1 cup yogurt. These buns were just fabulous.You have to try them.

Black Channa Curry

I got this recipe from a friend. I have slightly modified the recipe to shorten the cooking time. In the original recipe, spice bag filled with spices is used and later discarded. Tea leaves are also added to the spice bag but in this recipe, I do not use tea leaves and I just add the spices directly to the chickpeas.

Black Channa Curry

2 cups kabuli channa (chickpeas)
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tomato
1 clove garlic
1" piece ginger
1/2 tsp red chili powder
salt to taste

Dry roast the below ingredients till almost blackened. Cool and grind to a powder. Keep aside.
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp anardana
1" piece cinnamon
4 cloves
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
4 black cardamoms
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 bay leaf

Soak chickpeas overnight. Drain water. Put in a pressure cooker. Add 4 cups fresh water, 1 tomato slit in half, ginger, and whole garlic clove. Pressure cook to give 2-3 whistles. After the pressure drops, open the cooker. Add salt, powdered masala and mash the channas a bit. Again pressure cook to give 2-3 whistles. Heat oil in a kadai. Add onions and fry till caramelized. Once the onions are blackish brown, add chili powder, and the tomato and the garlic cooked with the chickpeas. Just mash it well, add to onions and saute for few seconds. Drain the chickpeas but do not discard the liquid. Add this to the onions. Keep the flame on medium high and let the chickpeas cook for some more time, 15 minutes or so. If the curry gets too dry, add the reserved liquid. Remove from flame and garnish with tomatoes. Serve hot with rotis or puris.

Notes: Instead of adding the powdered masala to the chickpeas and pressure cooking it again, you could just fry the masala with the onions. Caramelize the onions, add the powdered masala and fry for few minutes. Add chickpeas and proceed as given above.

Everyday food - Dal

I can eat dal and rice/roti everyday with no complaints. Last week I tried two new dishes, one with moong dal and the other with channa and urad dal. 

Moong Dal
I got this recipe from my sister. This time, I did not take the easy way out and cook the lentils in the pressure cooker. I followed the recipe exactly and cooked the lentils on the stovetop. The dal was yummy!



1 cup moong dal
2 tbsp oil
1 onion
2 medium-sized tomatoes, chopped
2 green chillies
1" piece ginger
few curry leaves
few coriander leaves finely chopped
pinch turmeric powder
salt
2 cups water

Wash the dal and soak it in 2 cups water for about half an hour. Finely chop the onions, green chillies, ginger and saute on a medium flame. Once the onion turns golden brown, add the soaked dal with the water, curry leaves, salt and turmeric powder. Cook on low flame. When it is half done (about 15 minutes), add tomatoes. Blend well. In another 10 minutes the dal should be fully cooked. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Dal Methiwali
One more recipe from my sister. I think she got this from some magazine and I had it for a long time but never got around to making it until now. In the photo, the dal does not look very appetizing but the dish was actually pretty good.

1/3 cup channa dal
1/3 cup urad dal
2 cups water
1 small onion
1/4" ginger
salt  to taste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbsps dried fenugreek leaves
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp ghee or butter
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
pinch hing
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 dhania powder
1/4 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp lemon juice

Wash the dals, and soak in 2 cups water in a large heavy bottomed saucepan for 30 minutes. Chop the onion, and ginger finely. Add to the soaked lentils along with salt, turmeric powder and dried fenugreek leaves. Bring to a boil over high heat, cover, reduce the heat to low and cook for about 45 minutes or until lentils are cooked. Or you could just pressure cook the lentils to two whistles. Keep aside. Chop garlic finely. Warm ghee in a small kadai. Add the cumin seeds and hing. When cumin seeds splutter, add the chopped garlic and cook until lightly browned. Remove from heat and quickly add the chili powder and dhania powder. Stir for a second and pour this into the lentil mixture. Mix in the garam masala and lemon juice.

Mixed Vegetable Kurma

This is a simple and wonderful recipe for kurma that I got from my sister. It goes well with rice and rotis. I made it slightly thick this time but if you want more gravy just add more water after adding the vegetables to the ground masala paste.  

Mixed Vegetable Kurma

Mixed boiled vegetables - I used 2 potatoes, 2 carrots,1 cup cauliflower,1/4 cup green peas. Other vegetables that can be added are knol-knol, and beans
Salt, to taste
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
1 stick cinnamon
1 cardamom
2 cloves
2 onions

Grind to a paste
1" piece ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 green chili
1/2 coconut

Garnish
1 tomato, chopped
Handful of chopped coriander leaves

In a pan, heat oil and fry cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and onion. When onions are cooked, add ground masala paste and fry till raw smell goes, about 10 minutes. Add boiled vegetables and enough water. Bring to a boil. Simmer till gravy thickens. Garnish with tomatoes and coriander leaves.