Plantain-Palak sabzi :)

Huff-puff! I am finally here :-D. I had promised dear Mandira that i would be posting my entry for JFI-Banana over the weekend.....which just flew by ;). So, here i am, i my usual late-lateef avatar, posting a last minute entry for JFI, one of my favorite events. JFI celebrates one special ingredient each month and was envisaged by dear Indira from Mahanandi.


I love bananas as a fruit, they are just yummy! They help energize a tired mind, as they boost the production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter. My favorite way of having bananas is as a chaat, with cut bananas, guavas, with some cayenne pepper, salt and lime juice thrown in to jazz it up :). Or as spicy banana raita. Or as such! I particularly love the lil' Yellaki bananas that we used to get in Bangalore. And as a vegetable, the plantain and raw bananas make my day as a part of Kalan, Undhiyu, Mocha ghanto and many more dishes :). Even the banana stem is edible and delicious. Read more here about bananas and plantains :).

My first experience of eating banana as a vegetable was really unique (kinda'). I was in fifth standard then, a lil' girl who would only think of school, playing and her cats, besides ofcourse food :-D. One of those days, the normal daily routine in our village came to halt, there was a curfew in the village.....for fifteen days, with just half an hour allowance time a day to buy essentials! No fresh vegetables and fruits would be in sight. Fortunately, we had a Kalpvriksha (as its been rightly referred to in ancient texts) planted in our haveli.....the banana tree came to our rescue, supplying us with the much needed freshness.....For those few days, we cooked and ate raw banana, enjoyed the ripe fruit and felt fortunate and blessed.....

I am pretty sure that the particular banana preparation that Mom made was more or less like arbi sabzi with gravy, somewhat like this. And indeed raw bananas and plantains work well like that, with or without eggplants. They also make yummy khatte kele ki sabzi, like here. Or a quick and delicious sabzi with Punjabi wadis. But all said and done, had it not been for the necessity driven consumption of raw bananas as a sabzi, i would not have discovered this goodness in life that early, certainly not in a Punju culinary way!
For JFI though, i wanted to make something different.....so i combined greens with raw plantain and gently spiced them. The result was delicious!

So here goes:

Plantain-palak sabzi:


We need:

• 2 green plantains (cut into discs/circles)
• 1 (9 oz.) bag baby spinach (chopped)
• 1 heaped tsp. grated ginger
  
• 1/4 tsp. Shah-jeera (black cumin)
• A pinch of strong hing/asfoetida
• A pinch of turmeric (optional)
• Red chilli powder (to taste)
• Salt to taste
  
• 1 tsp. lime/lemon juice
• 1-2 green chillies
• A pinch of garam masala
  
• 2 tbsp. oil

First, lets peel the plaintains and cut them into 1/2 cm. thick circles. In a pan, heat oil and splutter the shah-jeera. Add hing and let it release the aroma. Add the grated ginger and saute' for a minute or so. Add the plantain slices and stir fry till they change color into slightly pale/brown. This would help avoid the raw and slimy feel. Add the chopped spinach, salt and chilli powder. Stir and cover to cook on low heat till the plantain slices are tender. Add lime juice, 1-2 broken green chillies and a pinch of garam masala. Let rest for 5 minutes. Serve hot with chapatis or rice. Enjoy :).


Sending this with lots of love to dear Mandira. My apologies to you, sweetie, for the delay. Hope you'll enjoy it :).

Enjoying eggplants and mushrooms :)

Eggplants are really good, so are mushrooms. What's even better is the two of them together! Few days back (actually many days ago, when we were enjoying poori-bhaaji. Yes! that long back!), i had mentioned about an eggplant-mushroom recipe :). And then i just waited and waited to post it.....and came up with another eggplant-mushroom recipe, and still kept on waiting.....and finally, i am posting these :). and did i tell you that like many of the recipes here, these recipes originated while i was enjoying my bus ride ;).

Today, we'll enjoy the eggplant mushroom combo two ways: a yogurt based gravy dish and a coconut based dry sabzi! So yes, eggplants rule, as do mushrooms and together they are just divine!




Eggplant-mushrooms in yogurt gravy:

We need:

• 4-5 small eggplants or 2 Chinese or Japanese eggplants (cut into 2" pieces)
• 1 cup baby bella or crimini mushrooms (diced, i used dried crimini mushrooms, soaked. Fresh mushrooms work equally well).
• 1/2 tsp. each jeera/cumin and dhania/coriander
• 1 big, ripe tomato (chopped)
  
• 1 heaped tsp. chopped ginger
• Turmeric and red chilli powder (to taste)
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 cup beaten curds (preferably sour)
• 1 and 1/2 tbsp. oil
• A pinch of garam masala
• Cilantro (for garnishing)
  

In a pan, heat oil and splutter the cumin and coriander seeds. Add half of the chopped ginger and saute'. Now add the eggplant pieces and stir fry. This should take about 6-7 minutes. Add the diced mushrooms and stir fry another 5 minutes. Add rest of the chopped ginger and tomatoes, salt, turmeric and red chilli powder. Stir , cover and cook on low flame with 1/4 cup water to allow the vegetables to abosrb the flavors of the spices. Now add the curds slowly and mix. Cook another 5 minutes for the gravy to thicken. Add a pinch of garam masala. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy!


The brown color of this dish is from dried mushrooms and tomatoes. I enjoyed this dish with pooris and also with rice.

Eggplant-mushrooms stir fry:

We need:

• 4-5 small eggplants orr 2 Chinese or Japanese eggplants (cut into 2" pieces)
• 1 cup baby bella or crimini mushrooms (diced)
• 2 bunches (8-10 pieces) spring onions (chopped)
• 1/2 cup grated coconut
• 1 tbsp. Sriracha chilli sauce (or any hot sauce, my favorite substitute is green chilli chutney)
• Turmeric (a pinch)
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp. lime/lemon juice
  
• 1 and 1/2 tbsp. oil

In a pan, heat 1/2 tbsp. oil and saute' the spring onions, followed by grated coconut. Now add the eggplant slices and stir fry till crisp. Add the mushrooms and stir fry another 8-10 minutes. Add the turmeric, salt, chilli sauce and lime/lemon juice. Cook for another 5 minutes. Enjoy the heavenly aroma of coconuts and chillies. Serve hot with chapatis, paranthas or as a side dish with rice. My favorite way of enjoying this: as a sandwich stuffing!



I decided to make this dish, because i still had some eggplants and mushrooms in my fridge and wanted to enjoy these vegetables in a different way. I am glad i thought of this! The taste and aroma of this dish was amazing, so was the texture: soft mushrooms and eggplant pieces and crunchy grated coconut and spring onions! Oh and if you don't enjoy eggplants as much, chances are that you will, after this :)). And yes, it works well with just mushrooms or eggplants too :).Don't go by the pictures, this one is really yummy!

Y for Yam with black-beans :)

Yes, Y is for Yam, a name that's been claimed by both Amorphophallus (Suran) and Dioscorea (Sweet potatoes), depending on the place on the globe :). Since where i live, Dioscorea is easily available and is called Yam, i am using this in my recipe (was that a disclaimer?). Now, i do have my thoughts on what we calls Yams here in the US. These are also referred to as sweet potatoes, but to my palette, they are not nearly as sweet and starchy as the desi shakarkand (sweet potatoes)-and i am thrilled about it, because that makes them a perfect replacement for the Amorphophallus (the stuff we call Yam in India)! Today, i am pairing the yams with black-beans, and folks, let it be known, i am thrilled with the outcome :)).

The plus is that if get lazy while making this dish, you'll end up with something good half-way through still (ahem, that was kind of a note to self), he he ;). Feel free to try this with raw plantain, cassava or any starchy vegetables/tubers etc., and yes, that includes potatoes :)). Black beans may be replaced by lobias, fava beans, rajma/kidney beans or chana/garbanzos. And this dish is for the A-Z e-potluck at Nupur's place :).

So, here's the how-to:

We need:

• 1 cup cubed yams
• 1 cup black beans
  
• 5-6 mild green chillies-crushed/equivalent amount of bell peppers-chopped (optional, i used them and love them)
• 1 onion (finely sliced)
• A 2" (atleast) piece of ginger (julienned)
• 1 big, ripe tomato (chopped)
• 1/4 tsp. each shah-jeera (black-cumin) and dhaniya (coriander seeds)
• Turmeric (very little, as a spice) and red chilli powder (if you are not using green chillies or settle for bell-peppers)
  
• Salt to taste
• Amchoor/lime juice to taste (if you like it a lil' tangy)
  
• 1 tsp. oil/melted ghee
• A pinch of garam masala
• Kasuri methi or Chopped Cilantro (for garnish and aroma)

First, lets peel and cube the yams-this may be a lil' difficult. So, we can put the yams in boiling water for a few minutes or microwave the tubers for 2 minutes. After cubing them, we microwave the cubes for 3-4 minutes. While we are doing this, we also have soaked the black beans in warm water (though its not necessary, just pressure cook them an extra cpl. of whistles if you choose not to soak them). These beans are pressure cooked atleast 5 whistles, if soaked before. And the action begins now! We heat the ghee/oil, splutter the jeera and dhania and saute' the onions. This is followed by adding ginger, and after 2-3 minutes adding the chopped tomatoes-all this while we are stirring this stuff :). We now add the crushed green chillies or chopped bell peppers and cook for 2-3 more minutes and then add turmeric and (if using) the red chilli powder and souring agent like amchoor or lime juice. The next step is to add the microwaved yams, stir them in and cook 5 more minutes.


What next? From here, either we choose to cook the black beans and yams together or cook yams for 5 more minutes, add salt to taste, add some cilantro and have it with parantha or chapati or even roll yourself a nice burrito with this sabzi and cooked black beans plus some cheese-or may be a quesadilla :). I did the former (although many a time, i settle for the latter). To do that, we just add the cooked yams to the pressure cooked black beans and simmer on low heat till the gravy thickens. Lets garnish this with cilantro and enjoy! The chunky, cubed, bordering on sweet yams in the luscious dark black beans gravy is just bliss! I had this combo for dinner with chapati and the my lunch next day was a burrito from boiled beans and cooked yams! Or do it like they do here in one Pita place close to where i work: Black beans (and lets add the yams too) and melted cheese with some salad in the pita-to make what they call as a bean wowshi!



There's more yams for you here :). Enjoy the yummy yams, your way!

L for Lobia-Shimla :)

Hey friends, time to head for Nupur's A-Z meetup. I am packing some L for Lobia-Shimla and lots of love :). Lobia or Raungi or Roongi or Roong or Chawli (or Black-eyed beans) as its known, is one of my recent favorites. The regular white colored lobia is also called chitta (Punjabi-White) lobia and the pink/red lobia is called lal lobia. and recent favorite?? you ask-yes! there was a time when i ate them but didn't enjoy 'em as much. He he, quite a childhood thing :)). It changed slowly.....Usually i would demand Rajma-Chawal for any special occassion, like the last day of exams :). On one such occassion, i.e. after the exams were over, Mom decided to make raungi instead.....and boy! did i make a face.....Rajmas can not be replaced with anything else :)). But somehow, that day, when i had the first byte, i fell in love with this marvellous bean :). Our hostess, Nupur beautifully describes these beans when she says that to her "they look like beans wearing kohl" :).


Over the time, i realized that most people who don't enjoy lobia as much, feel that it needs something more.....it needs to have a fuller flavor. In simpler words, it needs to be spiced up a bit :)). I usually make lobia as a daal, sometimes with potatoes (yes, we Punjabis add aloo to everything: so you have stuff like Rajma aloo, aloo chhole etc). Another favorite of mine is to make lobia with eggplants. But today, we'll try out lobia with bell peppers i.e. Shimla mirch :). Shimla adds that special something to this lovely legume :).

So lets say Love to Lobia and get ready :)

We need:

• Black eyed beans (1 cup)
• 1 bell pepper (cut long)
• 1/4 tsp. shah jeera
• 1 onion (chopped long)
• 1 tbsp. chopped ginger
  
• 2-3 big, ripe tomatoes (cubed)
• Turmeric (about a pinch) and red chilli powder (to taste)
• Salt to taste
• 2 tsp. amchur
• 1 tsp. melted ghee
• Kasoori methi or chopped cilantro for garnishing

Soak the lobia for half an hour or so in warm water. Pressure cook it with just a lil' bit of water (4-5 whistles) and allow to cool (consistency should be like the picture above). Meanwhile, lets prepare the tadka/masala. In hot ghee, spluttershah-jeera and then saute' onions till golden brown. Add chopped ginger and saute'. You may add a lil' garlic paste also. Add the chopped bell peppers/capsicum and stir. Cook for 4-5 minutes. Now add the tomatoes, stir and cook on low till a thick masala is made. Add just a pinch of turmeric (adding less turmeric allows for the red hues of tomatoes to take over) and red chilli powder. Now add the amchur and stir. Add just a lil' bit of water to make a thick gravy and add the cooked beans to this. Cover and cook on low heat for the beans to absorb all the flavors and spices. Add chopped cilantro or dried methi leaves (take your pick-i used methi leaves). Serve hot with bread or rice of your choice.

I served this with bhatura :). I adapted this style of serving from a Dhaba in Amritsar, where they used to serve the chhole on top of the kulche and bhature.....



Notes: Add more water to get a suitable consistency of the gravy for it to go with rice :).

Enjoy the lovable lobia enhanced by the delectable shimla mirch :)

Methi-Zucchini ki sabzi :)

Here's one more from the squash and greens fan :). Two of my favorite vegetables put together-simple magic! Both green.....one very aromatic and leafy and the other one a great squash (without seeds, may i add). Methi (Fenugreek) is a very valued spice in Indian cuisine. Green leaves are used as vegetables and dried ones as garnish. Even the seeds (methra/methidana) occupies a coveted place in the spice-box. There are two varieties of methi available in Punjab-methi and methra. The latter has bigger leaves and more aromatic. Methi is considered to be "garam" in essence. Its predominantly a winter time product in India. Zucchini on the other hand is the best equivalent to ridge-gourd (which incidently is a summer vegetable). Grilled zucchini is good, so is aloo-methi. However, today lets try something that gets the best of both worlds :).



So, lets get, set and go.....

We need:

• 2 bunches fresh methi (chopped fine)/frozen (1 packet)
• 2 medium sized zucchinis (cubed)
  
• 2mild long red peppers (chopped)/you may like red sweet-pepper instead
• Jeera (1 tsp.)
• 1/4 onion (finely chopped)
• 1 big tomato (chopped)
• 1 tbsp. oil
• Turmeric (1/2 tsp.)
• Salt and chilli powder to taste

Heat oil and splutter jeera-saute onions and add tomatoes (the usual). Cook and then add turmeric and chilli powder. Now add zucchini cubes and cook on high heat for 5 minutes. Add methi and stir. Add salt and cook on low heat after covering the pan. Half way through add chopped red pepper of your choice (I used Holland pepper) and cook till done. Ready to go. No garam masala etc. is needed, because methi is highly aromatic and anything else will only take away from the fragrance. The red pepper along with tomatoes adds color to the vibrant green sabzi. Serve hot with chapati, paratha or daal-chawal.



This recipe also works well with spinach and other squashes like doodhi. In that case you might like to add some garam masala. Fresh methi leaves have slight bitter (kasaila, not kadwa) taste-if you don't like slightly bitter flavor then you may like to go light on methi. Frozen methi isn't bitter. I enjoy the slightly bitter flavor with parathas a lot :).


Next: Tomatar-soya wadi di kadhi : For JFI tomato.