Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Lal lobia-aloo and a me-me :)

The ever charming and chirpy Sig, host of the fun blog "Live to Eat" tagged me for this meme :). My first time on this food blog, and i am supposed to share seven random facts about me. Sure Sig, i would love to have few mins. of fame ;). And then i was looking for a recipe to go with this meme. Having read Sig's recent experience with lobia,

Hey Musical, guess what, my dear husband went shopping and got me some black colored beans and huge kidney beans instead of black eyed beans from the Indian store. So I had to send him to the regular store again, and he bought white lobia instead of red... I made Olan and Erissery with the white beans, it looked very pretty and was yummy!!!
Sig speak in the comments section ;)

I felt i should share a simple, traditional recipe made with lal-lobia (red lobia),


as lal-lobia is what she craved for then :). So, here are the goodies: a meme and the lal lobia-aloo recipe :). Have fun!

Seven random facts about me.....

1. Me and cooking: lucky by chance ;). i hardly did any cooking before i came to the US. At home, there was always the best of khana lovingly prepared by Mom. In the graduate school, there was the mess (which was decent, i must say.....not at all a mess!). When i started cooking, surprisingly things turned out fine.....it was like, Mom's blessings.....oh, and btw, for some reason, i don't own a single cook-book, i have no idea why!! now call me lazy or crazy-your choice ;).

2. I love cats =^.^= i love dogs and other animals too :).

3. Fruits make my all time favorite dessert, followed by ice-creams (Kulfis rule, so do gelatos!). Frozen yogurt and home made smoothies are another favorite. But once in a while i enjoy other sweets too. The only requirement is that it should not be too sweet! My favorite foods: Upma and Rajma Chawal (and countless more).....and i am pickle FANatic :).

4. I have this habit of reading while eating!! anything is good: books, magazines, even catalogs!! and i usually pursue 2-3 books at a time.....just like one follows 2-3 TV programs ;).

5. I love flowers, in their natural habitat.

6. I am not too much into sports and games!! I watch cricket only when India plays and baseball only when Red Sox plays :)). Tennis is enjoyable too, only when my favorite players are playing (Like Sunday's Wimbledon Men's Finals).The only sportsy activity i do is excercise: mainly yoga and aerobics. I have played carrom and chess only once.....and am totally clueless about card games!

7.I believe that the taste of good food multiplies, when you share it with others.....your loved ones, friends.....and thats why i enjoy food blogging.

Who am i going to tag: anyone who considers themselves a friend and is willing to take it up :)

After having bored you thoroughly, lemme make y'all something good: the lal lobia aloo :)


Here goes:

We need:

  • 1 cup red lobia
  • 1/2 onion (finely chopped)
  • 1 heaped tsp. ginger-garlic paste (more ginger, less garlic)
  • 1 small tomato (preferrably Roma, chopped)
  • 2 potatoes (peeled and cubed into big pieces)
  • Some chopped sweet peppers (bell pepper or Holland pepper)
  • 1/2 tsp. black cumin (shah-jeera)
  • 1 tsp. amchoor/lime juice
  • Turmeric and chilli powder (to taste)
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tsp. oil/melted ghee
  • Chopped cilantro (for garnishing, be generous here!)
  • Masala ( roast 4 cloves/lavang/laung, 1/4 cinnamon/dalchini stick and 1/4 tsp. mace/javitri-grind together and use 1/4 tsp.)

First thing is to soak the lobia in warm water for 1-2 hrs. Meanwhile, chop the vegetable and get ready ;). Add the cubed potatoes to the lobia and pressure cook for three whistles. Thats the reason the cubes should be really big, else the potatoes would get mushed up!

Red lobia takes a lil' longer to cook compared to the white lobia. While this stuff cools down, prepare the tadka. In hot oil, splutter shah-jeera and then saute' the onions. Now add the ginger-garlic paste (preferable make fresh with ginger to garlic in 3:1 proportion). Saute' and add the chopped peppers. Cook for 2-3 minutes, followed by the addition of tomatoes. Add turmeric (not more than 1/2 tsp.), chilli powder and the souring agent (amchoor or lime juice) and cook for 5 minutes. Add this to the cooked beans and potatoes. Add salt and stir. Bring it to a boil and then cook on low heat till the gravy thickens. Take care not to mush the potatoes. Once done, stir in the garam masala and chopped cilantro. Enjoy with rice or chapati :). Or if you are like me, with a crisp toast!!


Notes: Shah jeera is a good addition to the whole beans like lobia, Rajma, urad and masoor-it balances out the vayi/vayu element from these beans. I rarely use garlic in my cooking, but in this dish (besides paav bhaji, some chhole preparations and another few select dishes) i enjoy it a lot! I would prefer ghee to oil, as ghee adds its on aroma. Cilantro is a must.

Variations: Use white lobia for this dish. The two lobias taste quite different, so it does make a nice variation. Also you might like to try this with lal lobia :). During winters, Kasuri Methi can replace Cilantro to give a totally different flavor.

20 comments:

Sig said...

Hey yo musie... :) Loved reading the me-me...
me too, on the reading while eating part... now a days it is TV, but if there is nothing good on TV, I have to grab a book.... :).. And nice touch with the lobia dish :D :D...
BTW, aren't you missing an 8th random fact? Someone is tooo modest, come out and toot girl... :D

musical said...

Hey Sig:

Ditto for the TV thing these days (but the book still remains)!!

he he, you, me, bumble the humbl :-D

hugs,
musical

Kajal said...

Love to read your me-me.......my dear.:(
Very delicious dish you present. I always love this type of curry with ginger-garlic paste and also spicy is must.....as you say like cloves, cinnamon......Fastidious recipe.:)))

Mishmash ! said...

Hey Musical....it was nice to read ur meme and if u think all those who dont own cookbook can be called lazy and crazy, then you have to call me all those name too :))The dish looks perfect for dinner with chappathi's

Shn

musical said...

Hey Kajal:

Thanks :). i agree, it does need to be spicy :)).


Shn:

Hey, at last! i found someone like me, who doesn't own a cook-book :). enjoy :).

FH said...

Hi M!! Loved reading the MeMe! I did 5 MeMes in my last post,so pardon me for not taking it up!;D
I watch TV when eating and Watch TV when reading a book! Confused? Yeah!!
Re chori and Lobia and Kashmiri Rajam,they all look similar,don't they? Dish looks great,comfort food.I love Shah Jeera,looks different and taste is intense.Great post.
Thanks for visiting me,I replied too!:)

Richa said...

haanji, thuadde lal lobia te' badey creamy lag rae ne' YUMMY! mannu cinnamon flavor bot pasand e' put it in so many dishes :)
is that holland pepper in the dish, looks so good :)
thuadda cute jya meme padhke changa lageya, i too never cooked till i came here heh!heh!

Garden Dreamer said...

Hi Musical,

I chanced upon your blog recently and have been enamoured by the recipes. Looked long and deep for authentic Punjabi cooking-and you are the answer. I was wondering if you could please post the recipe for Gobi-shalgam-gajjar achchar. I had a friend from Delhi who treated me to Heeng(asafoetida) ka achchar. It was wonderful.

Also waiting eagerly for jimikhand baked(wow!)kofte and kababs recipes. Excellent blog.

musical said...

Ashakka:

THanks :) No problem for not taking up the meme. as i said, only if you have the time :)). and yes, these red colored beans, they all look similar, but taste so different. Happy blog anniversary again :).

Richa:

Thanks ji. i am glad you love the cinnamon flavor :). The secret for creaminess is slow cooking, and in this particular case, the aloos also contribute immensely. haanji, o Holland pepper ee hai. mainu bahut pasand hai. Tusi sachi kiha, India vich cooking da zyada mauqa nahin milda :-D. Tuahad meme kadon publish kar rahe ho :).

Sapna:

Thanks for the generous words.i am glad you find this blog enjoyable. I do have gajar shalgham achaar recipe (check the label turnip, post: paronthe te achaar)-ofcourse i have made mine with less sugar than usual. i will try to put some kofte and kabab recipes too ( for kababs, i can post vegetarian equivalents). Richa has a lovely homestyle ghiya kofte recipe on her blog-do check it out.

Roopa said...

Nice meme, wow the lal lobia aloo looks perfect for rotis.

musical said...

Hey Roopa:

Thanks :) Try them, you'll like them.

Coffee said...

Hahaha that was a good one... I also watch cricket only when India plays.... and read while eating ;)

Lobia with aloo looks great.... never cooked with it though. :)

musical said...

Coffee:

Same pinch ;). Try the lobia with aloo. Don't ya know we Punju are notorious for adding aloo to everything ;).

hugs,
musical.

Pelicano said...

Hey! I like reading and eating too- mostly cookbooks! ;-)

You must learn to play cards- forget the TV! That's what everyone did before the TV came along.

Do you own cats now?

Lal-lobia looks great! I want to make it right now, but I can't so I'll bookmark it.

musical said...

Hey Pel:

Before TV came, there was radio ;).

There are cats back home, none here. i wouldn't like to keep them indoors all the time.....

Do try the lobia, hope you'll like it :).

bee said...

how did i miss this? nice reading your MeMe, gal. and the recipe looks wonderful.

musical said...

Thanks, bee :).

swapna susarla said...

Hi Musical
Curry looks colorful!!

musical said...

Hey Swapna:

So good to see you after such a long time! how have you been doing. Thanks a lot, dear.

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