A really different, really healthy aloo-gobhi :).

Yes, indeed-its different! One, its really simple to put together (the only things you chop are aloo and gobhi) and two, its a zero oil recipe! And it packed with flavor! I have previously posted Mom's aloo-gobhi recipe, which ofcourse is an all time favorite. Today's recipe, retains the key spices from that recipe: ginger and green chillies and combines them the tangy taste of sour curds. I made it this weekend, and i had to share it with you :). Oh, talking about sharing: here's a cute piece of news.....my diary turned one y'day :-D. Blogging has been fun. So, here's to blogging and fun :).

Dahi wali aloo-gobhi


This dish is a simple one, but really yummy! We marinate the aloo and gobhi in a mix of sour curds, grated ginger, garlic salt, green chillies, cumin and coriander powders and salt, cook the aloo-gobhi first on low heat and then on high heat, and there it is: zero oil, flavorful aloo-gobhi.

We need:

• One Cauliflower (cleaned and cut into big florets, check the recipe mentioned above)
  
• 2 Russet/Idaho Potatoes (peeled and cubed)
• 1 cup sour curds (i used store-bought fat free yogurt, to make it almost completely fat free)
• 1 tbsp. grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp. garlic-chilli salt ( i used Cholula brand, you can use any other brand garlic salt or 1 clove crushed garlic, which should work just as well)
• 1 tsp. each cumin and coriander (jeera and dhania) powders
• 1-2 green chillies (chopped)
• Salt to taste
• Fresh cilantro for garnishing

In a bowl, mix all ingredients except aloo, gobhi and salt, to make the marinade. Coat the aloo and gobhi pieces with this marinade and let rest for 10-15 minutes. Now you can choose one of the two ways to cook this dish:

Either tranfer these pieces and any remaining marinade into a pan. In this case, cook on low till the cauliflower florets are tender (takes about 25-30 minutes).

or

Place the aloo-gobhi in a baking dish and cover with aluminium foil. IIf using the baking method, bake the aloo-gobhi at 400 degrees F for 30-40 minutes and transfer the contents to a pan.

From here on, the method is the same:

Now add salt to the aloo gobhi and cook on high heat to dry all the liquid. This takes about another 10 minutes. The end result should be a well done, non- soggy, non-mushy aloo gobhi. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy with chapati or paranthas. Trust me, you won't miss the oil!


Notes: 1.Baking with yougurt/curds retains some liquid even after 30 minutes, hence cooking in the pan is essential. It not only dries up the liquid, but also makes the aloo-gobhi firm yet well cooked.
2. The marinade is really yummy! Add some boiled and mashed potatoes or some fried eggplant slices to it and enjoy a yummy raita!

Thoughtful paneer :)

Isn't that a thoughtful and lovely name for a dish :). How else could i have named a dish, that was born out of deep thinking ;). This month, dear Sunita wants us to think about saffron/kesar/zafraan/kong/keshar/kumkuma, a really pretty, fragrant and alluring spice. So, i had no choice, but to put on my thinking cap and dish out something that would celebrate this spice :). Saffron usually graces a lot of Indian sweets and rice dishes such as pulaavs and biryanis. Now, i usually make sweets only when i have friends visiting and i had already prepared some plain rice for dinner. So, i was more and more inclined to prepare a savory side dish featuring saffron, to go with my rice :). A look into my fridge had some paneer waving at me.....and we all know how well saffron goes with dairy :). Hence the thoughtful paneer :).


This thoughtful dish brings together paneer, sour curds and a blend of spices, with saffron playing all the three major spicy roles: as an aromatic spice, a pretty garnish and a gorgeous coloring agent :). This dish also brings together the different flavors: saffron and shah-jeera for the warm, fragrant and bitter-sweet note, sour curds for the tangy taste, black pepper for the hot factor and a combination of cinnamon and star anise for mellow sweetness. The spices used along with saffron here complement its flavor, rather than overpowering it. I didn't have Indian saffron with me (which i consider to be the best), so i used whats available locally (which is quite good too). The end result was a really flavorful, fragrant and delectable side-dish :).


So here is how i thought out this dish:

Thoughtful paneer:

We need:

• 25-30 bite size paneer cubes ( i am not sure about the weight of the paneer block i had, hence this measure)
• 1 cup sour curds
• 2 tbsp. milk
  
• A pinch of asfoetida/hing
• 1/4 tsp. black cumin/shah-jeera
• 1 star-anise/badiyun-khatai
• 1 small cinnamon stick/dalchini
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper/kali mirch powder
  
• Salt to taste
• A few strands of saffron
• 1 tbsp. oil

In a deep, flat pan, heat the oil and pan-fry/toast the paneer cubes to light brown. Drain on a paper towel and set aside. Next, splutter hing and shah-jeera in the hot oil, followed by star-anise and cinnamon. Roast the spices till a mild aroma is released. It takes about a minute-take care not to burn the spices. Now add one cup water to the pan and bring it to boil. Add the toasted paneer cubes and cook for 5 minutes on high. Meanwhile, mix the black pepper powder and salt with curds and whisk it well. Reduce the flame and slowly add this mixture to the paneer while stirring (to avoid curdling). Simmer on low heat for another 10 mins. The gravy should thicken at this point. Switch of the flame. Dissolve 4-5 strands of saffron in 2tbsp. warm milk and mix well with the paneer. Top the dish with few more strands of saffron and cover and let rest for few minutes before serving. Goes very well with plain rice and a spicy side dish/pickles of your choice :). Tastes even better the next day.


Do not use too much saffron. Its a garam taseer (heat producing) spice. A few strands are more than enough to get the desired color and aroma. Kala jeera should also be used in suggested amounts, excess leads the dish to taste slightly bitter. I like that taste actually, and hence the excess in the picture :). But if you like it mellow, then stick to 1/4 tsp. kala-jeera.

Good show Richa and Pel, this indeed drew influence from Kashmiri cuisine :)

Here a few saffron flavored favorites from blogosphere: do check them out.

Zafraani zamodod and kheer (Anita)
Kesaria (Richa)
Kesari bhath (Ashakka)
Zafraani Pulav (Manasi)

Enjoy :).

Majjige huli and beans palya: a simple, homestyle meal :).

It happens to me a lot! You know how, sometimes we meet other people of Indian origin and the question comes up, "Which city are you from?" :). I usually answer after a lil' pause, for i can not single out just one city! I feel i belong equally to Amritsar, New Delhi and Bangalore (and all the other cities here i have lived in) :-D. But many a time, i just end up saying "Bangalore", because thats the city where i had my first taste of independent (well, almost) living :-D. I simply love the city!

When Ashakka announced RCI-Karnataka, i was really thrilled! For, here was my chance to write about some of my ever favorite comfort foods :). That brought back fond memories of my time in Bangalore.....Back in New Delhi, i had a few Kannadiga friends in the college and like it usually happens, we sampled each others lunch boxes quite often ;). I got even closer to the delicious Karnataka cuisine when i moved to Bangalore for my graduate school. It was here that i learnt about the myriad sub-regional varieties of Karnataka cuisine. The A-mess in IISc provided decent food most of the times and included a lot of preparations from our theme cuisine. I learnt more from my friends and colleagues, about the preparations, the Kannada names for spices and vegetables etc etc. :). Most of my "recipe learning" was from tasting good food and asking "so how do we make this" :-D. This usually left me with a decent idea, though not the exact proportions. I stored all this information in my mind and once i moved to the US and began cooking myself, i tried out many of these recipe ideas.....surprisingly, they turned out decent enough :-D. A senior colleague in my lab in Bangalore, Mrs. R, would often treat us, the graduate students, with yummy home cooked meals. Courtesy her, we sampled great food, and i had many of my "how to" queries answered. Her face would have this really nice glow as she watched us eat.....and ofcourse the lil' tid-bits from many friends.....

So in a way, this lovely cuisine is my own.....the yummy goodness that nurtured me through those years :). Ooh, the thoughts of good food.....the fiesta is on!


For RCI, i decided that first and foremost, i should share one of my most favorite comfort meals with you.....its my everyday kind of food.....a combination of majjige huli, beans palya and rice.....So, here is to yummy food :-D.


Majjige huli:

Majjige huli takes its name from majjige (buttermilk) and is one of the best ways to enjoy the flavor of a single vegetable! With the warm aroma and smooth texture from coconut and the tangy taste from buttermilk, this one is surely a comfort food! Traditionally, the vegetables chosen are: Ash-gourd (kumbalakayi), chayote squash (seemebadnekayi), bottle gourd (sorekayi), bell-pepper (dodda-mensinakayi; the big pepper) and long eggplants (badnekayi).....but hey, nothing should stop you from trying this out with other vegetables. I especially recommend the squashes and gourds! This is surely one the best ways to enjoy them! For RCI, i have prepared majjige huli with dodda-mensinakayi and another one with the pretty looking patty pan squashes.



So pick your vegetable of choice and lets start :-D.

We need:

• 1 big bell-pepper or 4-5 pieces patty pan squash (chopped into bite-size pieces)
  
• 3/4 cup grated coconut (fresh/frozen)
• 1 tbsp. soaked bengal gram/chana daal
  
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1-2 small green chillies
• Turmeric (just a pinch)
• 1 cup sour buttermilk (or sour curds, diluted to 1 cup)
• Salt to taste
• A pinch or two of sugar (~ 1/4 tsp., almost mandatory)
  
• For seasoning: 1 tsp. oil, 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds, a lil' asfoetida, 5-6 curry leaves and 1-2 dried red chillies (broken)

Lets first cook the chopped vegetables by boiling in water, till tender. While this goes on, we grind the coconut, daal, cumin seeds, green chillies and turmeric into a smooth paste (add a lil' water if needed). Once the vegetable pieces are done, we add the coconut paste, salt and simmer for another 5-10 minutes for the flavors to blend in. Now, remove it from the flame and slowly add the buttermilk/curds (which should be at room temperature, to prevent curdling). Prepare the seasoning by heating the oil and spluttering the mustard seeds, followed by adding the asfoetida, curry leaves and red chillies. Add the seasoning to the prepared huli, stir in and let rest for 5-10 minutes. Enjoy this delicious goodness with rice :). Or just drink it up (like i do) :-D.



After i prepared this for RCI, i just wanted to cross check if i had gotten my stuff right (given that i had no written down recipe). So, i set about searching on Google. There were a lot of recipes, most of them with a long list of ingredients that i wasn't sure i had ever tasted in the homemade authentic majjige huli. I finally found a recipe, that i bet is authentic and is really simple and it eased my worries as my recipe was quite like this recipe, and that recipe is from our very own Supriya :-D. Thank you, sweetie for letting me know that i was on the right path all along.....it means a lot to me.....I usually have this with regular Sona Masuri rice, but i listened to Sia and tried it with Basmati! It was just delicious!
Over to beans palya :-D.

Beans palya:

This is another must eat! A simple dish with a vegetable and coconut, a total delight! I love this preparation the most with french beans, cluster beans, carrots, beets and cabbage! Squashes are good to, i especially enjoy this preparation with zucchini. Kohlrabi also makes yummy palya. Here's the recipe with cluster beans:

We need:

• 2 cups chopped vegetable (i used cluster beans)
• 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1 tsp. urad daal (uddina bele)
• 1-2 broken dried red chillies
• 5-6 curry leaves
• Salt to taste
• A pinch of both turmeric and sugar
• 2-3 tbsp. grated coconut
• 1 tsp. oil

Heat oil and splutter the mustard seeds, add the urad daal and allow it to lightly brown, followed by turmeric, curry leaves and red chillies. Stir for a cpl. of minutes and add the chopped vegetables. Drizzle with lil' water, add the salt and cook on low heat after covering the pan till the vegetable is done. Top it with grated coconut and sugar. Stir and cook for another 4-5 minutes. Enjoy the palya with rice and huli or as a fabulous sandwich stuffing!


This recipe at Payaswini's cookbook adds kadlabele too, but i didn't. Also i normally use more coconut than the recipe in the link. This site seems to have a decent recipe collection and sounds authentic (from the recipes i checked out).

This is my contribution for RCI-Karnataka, an being hosted by our dearAshakka :). RCI is an event celebrating the yummy regional Indian cuisines,coneptualized by dear Lakshmi at Veggie Cuisine. Thanks Ashakka, for hosting this, despite your Lasik plans.....and for the Benne Biscattu post :-D.

Tamatar soya-wadi di kadhi : JFI tomato

Food blogsopshere is always abuzz with interesting events that serve as a platform to share not just recipes but ideas and conecpts related to food. One such great event is "Jivha for Ingredients", which features one ingredient every month. Conceptualized and brought to the blogosphere by Indira (of the wonderful Mahanandi blog), the event is being hosted this month by RP of My Workshop (another great blog) and features TOMATOES.



Today I'll share a simple, yet very delicious recipe featuring tomatoes. Its a fusion of the classic kadhi with some relatively newer ingredients of Indian cooking. We've all heard about and relished the kadhi classics like "Pakore wali kadhi", "Majjige huli", "Mor Kozhambu" and many many more delicious variations of dahi/curd based gravies from across the different subcultures in India. Punjabis traditionally make two basic varieties of kadhis, the stylish and hearty pakore wali kadhi, which is also the more popular one; and the very sublime kadhi with vegetables.....the latter graced by the presence of a whole variety of veggies and greens. The simplest of these is tamatar wali kadhi :). This curd based delight with tangy tomatoes now takes an interesting turn by including the soya-wadi, popularly known as nutrella/nutri nuggets. These are dried chunks of soy and are quite popular in some cuisines from Northern India. Where did i get this idea from! Well, quite some time ago, while travelling, my Dad sampled soya wadi di kadhi at a Railway Station dhaba! So all thanks to the bhaiya ji at the dhaba :). Anyways, with or without soya wadis, tamatar di kadhi is quick to make and a delish relish :). Here's my recipe for Tamatar soya-wadi di kadhi.

We need:

• 1 and 1/2 cup buttermilk or beaten curd (sour preferred)
• 2 and 1/2 tbsp. besan
• 1/4 onion (chopped chunky)
• 2 big, ripe TOMATOES (chopped chunky)
  
• 10-15 soya chunks (soaked in warm water to soften)
  
• Ginger (chopped, to taste)
• 1/2 bell pepper (chopped)
• 1/2 tsp. each of jeera and dhaniya (cumin and coriander) seeds
• 1/4 tsp. each of methi-dana (Fenugreek seeds) and kalonji (Nigella seeds)
• 1 tbsp. oil
• Turmeric and chilli powder
  
• 1/4 tsp. Garam masala
  
• Kasuri Methi (dried methi leaves) and Cilantro (both for garnishing)

Heat oil and splutter jeera, dhaniya, methi-dana and kalonji (in that order). Add onions and saute, followed by ginger and bell-peppers. (While its being saute'd-we must also keep ready the besan-curd mix. For that, beat the curd smooth and slowly add besan, preventing any clumps. We can use buttermilk instead). Now add 1/2 of the chopped tomatoes, stir and cook. Add turmeric and chilli powder (add only 1/4 tsp.turmeric-the color gets darker as we cook). Stir to make the base and add rest of the tomatoes. Reduce the flame and slowly add the curd-besan mix while stirring to prevent curdling. Squeeze out excess water from soaked soya-wadis and add to the kadhi. Add more water and bring to boil. Cook on low heat to allow the kadhi to thicken a bit. Add the kasuri methi and garam masala, cover the pot and let sit for 5 mins. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with rice.


I served this with matar pulaav. This kadhi looks a lil' orange because of the tomatoes and quite a riot of colors, what with the bell peppers etc added. Methi and cilantro add a distinct aroma.....and no, they don't clash: rather they complement each other very nicely. It works well even if the curd is not that sour because tomatoes provide tangy taste. Also, instead of adding soya-wadis to the kadhi, you might like to add them to the pulaav (Mom often used to make soya-wadi matar pulaav).


Next: Paronthe te achhar :)