tried & tested recipes

This is the first time I am participating in Nupur’s A-Z vegetable series. First I thought of Zunka. Since I don’t have the exact recipe I skipped the idea

This sabzi can be prepared with no oil/little oil/more oil. Choice is yours.

Procedure is pretty simple. Just pull out all the left over vegees from your crisper.You can select different combos too. Like Aloo Gobhi mutter, Brinjal Aloo anything you fancy.

I chose zucchini , onion, broccoli, tomato, cherry tomato, capsicum and potatoes.

Cut the vegetables into small/big pieces or into roundels.

Preheat the oven for 10 minutes.

Cut out a large piece of foil. Fold it into half. So that it becomes sturdy. This also prevents the vegetables from getting charred.

Place all the cut vegees on the foil. Dribble oil all over.

Sprinkle chilli powder,

haldi (turmeric), salt,

garam masala or any masala of your choice,

a pinch of kasuri methi.

Mix all the ingredients well.

Fold the foil well and place it on a baking tray.

Place the tray on the top shelf close to the top grill of the oven. Bake it in a hot oven 400 degree F or 200 degree C

Check after 8-10 minutes by poking the tip of the knife into the foil. Serve hot . Garnish with lime juice and coriander leaves.

When the vegees were cooking my house was filled with the aroma of the masala and kasuri methi.

This is my entry for Nupur’s A-Z Indian Vegetable Series

This is my last entry for RCI. Thanks Richa for selecting Punjab as the theme and also hosting this month’s RCI . It was real fun to make all the dishes.

This event was first started by Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine.

I always have this Tandoori Aloo in my favorite veg restaurant.

This dish is part of ‘Tandoori Platter’ , which consists of these Tandoori aloo, tandoori paneer, veg seekh kabab, dal makhani, naan, lots of onions , and green chutney. WoW!

This is my favorite order, whenever I visit the restaurant.

Is your mouth watering ? Next time I will post the picture of the platter.

I decided to recreate the Tandoori Aloo at home. The attempt was quite successful

INGREDIENTS-

4 medium potatoes

For the filling .

3 Tbsp crumbled paneer

7-8 cashewnuts cut into small pieces

1 tsp raisins

1 green chilli chopped finely

a pinch turmeric

salt to taste

1/2 tsp chaat masala

a pinch garam masala

For the marinate-

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

3/4 tsp kasmiri chilli powder

1/2 tsp amchoor

1/4 tsp kala namak ( rock salt)

2 tsp oil

1/2 tsp tandoori masala

a pinch kasuri methi

Green Chutney-

Grind 1 green chilli, some coriander leaves, salt, and 1 clove garlic to a paste. Mix this paste in some curds to make chutney.

METHOD-

Prick the potatoes and microwave HIGH for 5-6 minutes till cooked. Keep a glass of water on the turntable to prevent wrinkling of potatoes while cooking.

Cool and peel the potatoes. Cut small slices from both the ends of the potato, so that the potato gets a base to stand. Scoop the potatoes.

Mix the ingredients for the filling.No cooking.

Fill the potatoes with the paneer filling.

Mix all the ingredients for the marinate and apply the paste to the potatoes . Let it marinate for 30 minutes.

Grill the potatoes till they become golden brown. Serve with some chaat masala, green chutney and off-course onion roundels and lemon.

In my excitement to take pictures I forgot to serve them with onions

Tip-

Select potatoes which are not sweet.

After grilling the potatoes you can serve them whole or slice them horizontally into two halves .

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This month the WBB event is being hosted by Madhuli of My Food Court. The event is the brainchild of Nandita of Saffron Trail.

This is my contribution for WBB July Oats.

When I came to know this month’s theme was Oats, I was a little doubtful whether I would be able to participate . Apart from making porridge I had never tried any thing else with oats.

But then Asha’s post inspired me to try some thing. She had powdered the oats to make parathas. That was it.

I too powdered the oats to make halwa for kids. I know calorie conscious grown ups may hesitate to eat it .

So heres the recipe.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup Quaker Quick Cooking Oatmeal

2 tsp to 1 Tbsp ghee

1/4 cup sugar

Approx. 1/2 cup mixture of water and milk ( the ratio of milk and water should be half milk and half water)

a pinch cardamom powder

Nuts and raisins ( optional)

METHOD

1.Powder the oats in the grinder.

2.Roast the powdered oats in ghee, till it changes colour and gives a nice aroma.

3.Add the water milk mixture and stir well.

4. Add the sugar and cardamom powder and mix well. Cover and cook for few minutes , till sugar dissolves.

5. Mix in the nuts and raisins and serve.

Thanks Coffee,  for choosing Preserve it as a theme for MBP now I can boast of making some very tasty home made masalas and jam at home.

I made -

Sambhar masala from Bharathy’s recipe

Chaat Masala from your recipe Coffee’s

Mango jam from off-course Viji ’s recipe

Bharathy’s  Sambhar masala is too good. For the first time the sambhar tasted like sambhar

Viji’s jam tasted very delicious. I used only mangoes for the jam .

Coffee’s chaat/multipurpose masala is again a simple tasty, easy to make  masala. Now I need not buy it from the store .

This is my entry for Coffee’s MBP. Thanks Coffee it was fun making these recipes for the event.

Also many thanks to Bharathy , Coffee, and Viji for sharing such wonderful recipes.

When I first started blogging I had no knowledge of computers. Initially when I saw these events on the blogosphere I hesitated to participate as I did know how to send links of my recipes

Slowly I picked up things, and now I enjoy participating in them. Punjabi food being a favorite looks like I may be cooking more of this cuisine this whole month.

Everything would be malai mar ke ( adding cream). All that going lite last month will definitely go for a six

I prepared this Aloo Kulcha from Sanjeev Kapoor’s recipe. from here. The link may stay for some time but may go off once this recipe goes off from the complimentary section. So I will give the entire recipe.

It seems this was a fast selling item in a restaurant in New Zealand where he worked. People ate this like a starter.

This prompted me to try it out .The recipe goes like this. It may look lengthy but preparation time was less.

The ingredients are similar to aloo paratha except the outer covering is all purpose flour.

FOR THE KULCHA

Sieve 2 cups maida, salt to taste, 1/4 tsp Soda Bicarbonate.

Gradually add 2 Tbsp yogurt and 2 Tbsp milk.

Add sufficient water to make a soft and smooth dough.

Cover with a wet cloth and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Add 2 Tbsp oil and knead the dough well.

Cover it again and keep it for an hour.

FOR THE FILLING

Boil and peel 2 medium potatoes .Grate them.

Finely cut 1/2 medium onion.

Finely cut 2 green chillis.

Finely cut 1/4 medium bunch coriander leaves and 8-10 mint leaves.

Dry roast 1 tsp anardana and 1 Tbsp jeera/cummin and powder them coarsely.

Mix all the ingredients for stuffing along with 1/2 Tbsp red chilli powder.

HOW TO MAKE KULCHA

Divide the dough into 6-8 portions.

Flatten the portion of dough and and place a portion of the filling as you would do for stuffed parathas.

Roll lightly 4-5” diameter discs.

Brush lightly with oil and sprinkle kalonji seeds,and press with your palm

Preheat the oven at 220 degrees celcius .

Place these kulchas on greased baking tray and bake for 6-8 minutes.

Brush the Kulchas with butter and serve HOT.

This is my entry for RCI July PUNJAB. The event was first started by Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine and now guest hosted by Richa of As Dear As Salt.

MEME-

I have been tagged by sweet friend Richa for a meme to disclose seven random facts about myself.

Its so difficult to say anything about ME ME but I will give it a try.

1.My entry into the food blog world was just by chance and not preplanned. I was searching for pav bhaji recipe on the net,and found Nupurs blog. Till then I did not know that something known as ‘Blog’ existed.

My interest in cooking (eating :)) led me to many more such food blogs!I used to note down recipes in diaries with the name of the blog. It is funny but I did not know how to book mark recipes (Now I know everything, learnt it on my own)

My knowledge of computers was limited to surfing the net and sending emails. My comments were anonymous and off-course did not lead to any link, but the others names did. At heart even I wanted my name to lead to a link with every click, very childish of me, but its true !

So one fine day on an impulse I just clicked on Get a free WordPress blog and clicked and clicked till the end and I had made my own blog within 3 hours and wrote a first post. Sia and Coffee were the first ones to notice me and I want to thank both of them for encouraging me

I love to share recipes and also love to learn new things that’s why probably I have survived these 6 months in food blogosphere. My thanks to all blogger friends for your constant support.

2.The first point was so long what will happen to the rest of the meme!! Yup I love to talk. I just need some time to gear up to be able to build a rapport with anyone. Probably that’s why I have friends of all ages

3.I have this fascination for bags, which will never end. Also I love to buy things for my kitchen. It can be anything which will make my life easier in the kitchen.

4.I fear height, what do you call it bathophobia?Coffee :))) It took me 3 months to go close to the balcony railing of my third floor apartment.

5.I am an urban lady. I can’t stay in a quite place. I need some hustle bustle around. That’s why I like South Mumbai with the crowd oozing out on the roads at Churchgate ,VT. Wow I love all that.I don’t mind the heat, sweat and the crowd. Also I would love to stay in an apartment rather than a bungalow in a metro. I do not like too many exit points in a house , one is enough .

6.My child hood has been spent with lot of architectural design books around me. Never took up Architecture for which I repent even today. Designing anything is my passion and I love colours. If I am viewing a TV serial the lovely shade of the sheer curtain will draw my attention than the sobbing heroine

7.I have this weird interest in the latest gadgets latest mobiles , cameras any new technology. I might just walk into a mobile shop update myself on the features of the latest mobile and walk out. So crazy !

On this note I end my Meme here.

I now tag Bharathy, Srivalli, Deena, Neelam, Shanti, and Deepa. Please play along only if you have time and inclination.

All thanks to the RCI theme Punjabi Cuisine, all the forgotten recipes are surfacing slowly. My folks at home are very happy as they are getting to eat Punjabi food so often. Now with these gravies which I made they can look forward to the restaurant type Punjabi food sitting at home

I have been making the basic onion tomato gravy but had never tried making these three gravies-

KADAI GRAVY

WHITE GRAVY

MAKHNI GRAVY

Each of these gravies is really easy to make and has a distinctive flavour.

In fact I am repenting for not making them earlier.

They can be frozen or made well in advance for parties.

All your favorite recipes can be made using them, be it PaneerPasinda with the white gravy or Paneer Makhani with the Makhani gravy.

TO MAKE A SUBZI, JUST HEAT ABOUT 1/2 CUP OF ANY OF THESE GRAVIES, ADD 2 CUPS OF BOILED MIXED VEGETABLE/ PANEER etc AND SALT TO TASTE AND COOK FOR 8-10 MINUTES.

WATER MAY BE ADDED AS REQUIRED AND FRESH CREAM TO MAKE IT RICHER.

These are Tarla Dalal recipes.

( There is a major problem with my computer so I am sorry I could not upload photos. Once things are Ok I will upload them as soon as possible. )

KADAI GRAVY

#Preparation time 10 minutes; # Cooking time;-15-20 minutes; # Makes 2 cups.

750 grams tomatoes

1 Tbsp coriander seeds

10 whole dry red chillis broken into pieces

6 cloves garlic chopped

4 green chillis chopped

2″piece ginger grated

1 tsp kasuri methi ( dried fenugreek leaves )

1 tsp garam masala

4 Tbsp oil

salt to taste

METHOD

1. Chop the tomatoes finely or grind coarsely.

2. Roast the coriander seedsand red chillis lightlyon a tawa and pound it with mortar and pesstle coarsely.

3.Heat oil in pan and saute garlcover medium heatfor few minutes.

4.Add pounded spices and cook for few seconds.

5.Add ginger and green chillis and saute for 3o seconds.

6.Add tomatoes and saute till oil comes on the surface

7. Add kasuri methi ,salt and sprinkle garam masala.

8. Cool and freeze in air tight container or zip lock bags.

WHITE GRAVY

# Preparation time 10 minutes ; #Cooking time 15 minutes;

#Makes 2 cups.

2 medium onion, roughly chopped

1 Tbsp broken cashewnuts

6 cloves garlic roughly chopped

1/2” piece ginger

3 green cardamoms/ elaichi

2 cloves/laung

1 bay leaf

2 green chillis chopped

1 cup FRESH CURDS/dahi

1 Tbsp fresh cream

2 Tbsp oil

salt to taste

METHOD

1.Cut the onions into big pieces.

2.Add 3/4 cup of water and boil.When cooked, add the cashewnut pieces, garlic and ginger. Leave aside to cool.

3.When cool,blend to a smooth paste in the blender.

4.Heat the oil in the pan and add the cardamoms, cloves, and bay leaf.and stir for 1/2 minute.

5.Add the onion paste and fry for one minute.

6.Add the green chillis and fry for a while. Remove from heat.

7.Add the curds. Mix well and cook for 1/2 minute,stirring continuously.Add the cream and salt.

8.Cool and freeze in an air tight container or in polythene bags.

MAKHNI GRAVY

#Preparation time10 minutes; # Cooking time 15 minutes;

# Makes 2 cups

1 cup chopped onions

1” piece ginger

6-7 cloves garlic

2 Tbsp broken cashewnuts

1 tsp chilli powder

2 cups fresh tomato puree

1 tsp jeera powder/cummin seed powder

1/2 tsp garam masala powder

1 tsp kasuri methi ( dried fenugreek leaves )

1 Tbsp honey

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup cream

1 Tbsp oil

1 Tbsp butter

salt to taste

METHOD

1.Blend the onions , ginger, garlic and cashewnuts to a smooth paste.

2.Heat the oil in a pan add the ground paste and cook till light brown in colour.

3. Add the chilli powder and tomato puree and cook for a few minutes.

4. Add the jeera powder , garam masala and 1/2 cup of water and cook for some time till oil separates from the masala.

5. In a another pan melt butter add the kasuri methi and remove from the flame.

6. Add this to the tomato gravy along with honey, milk and cream and salt and allow it to come to boil.

7.Cool and freeze in an air tight container or in zip lock bags.

This is my entry for RCI July, PUNJAB .This event was started by Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine and now guest hosted by Richa of As Dear As Salt.

Punjabi food makes your mouth water. It is one of the most popular cuisines liked by people in India and abroad too.

This cuisine has so much to offer in both non veg and vegetarian dishes, that the list is endless.

So when Richa announced the theme for RCI would be Punjabi food I was very happy.

I took this opportunity to try out Punjabi Kadhi .

When it came to making North Indian style of Kadhi I always made the U.P.type which does not have vegetables added to the pakoras.

I dug into my recipes and followed Nita Mehta’s Recipe.

The kadhi was very tasty, that was our lunch Rice and Punjabi Kadhi!

The recipe goes like this-

Serves 4-6 people

FOR THE KADHI

1 cup besan (bengal gram flour)

2 cups khatti dahi ( sour curds)

1/2 tsp haldi powder ( turmeric)

3/4 tsp red chilli powder

salt to taste

FOR THE TADKA-

2 Tbsp oil

1/2 tsp jeera (cummin seeds)

1/2 tsp methi daana ( fenugreek seeds)

1 moti elaichi( black cardamom)

2 laung (cloves )

3-4 dry red chillis

PAKORAS / DUMPLINGS

1 cup besan ( bengal gram flour)

1/3 cup water approx.

1 big onion chopped finely

1 small potato chopped finely

1/2”piece ginger grated

2 green chillis chopped finely

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

salt to taste

1/2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp dhania powder

a pinch of baking powder

oil for frying

TADKA/ TEMPERING

1 tsp ghee

1/2 tsp red chilli powder coarsely ground

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METHOD

KADHI

1.Mix curd , besan, salt, haldi ,red chilli powder and 5 1/2 cups water.Beat well till no lumps remain.

2.In a big heavy bottomed pan heat oil and add all the ingredients for tadka.

3. Add the curd water mixture to the tadka . Keep stirring continuously till it boils.After one good boil, lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes stirring occasionally.

Keep aside.

PAKORAS

1 . Mix all the ingredients for the pakoras, and beat well.

2. Drop small portions in hot oil to make pakoras.

3.Add the pakoras to the hot kadhi.

TEMPERING

Heat ghee slightly add the chilli powder and immediately pour it on the kadhi.

Serve hot with hot rice .

This is my entry for RCI July PUNJAB guest hosted by Richa of As Dear As Salt and the event was first started by Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine

When I was surfing the net for recipes I got to know that watermelon can be consumed in so many ways. Thanks Bee for choosing this theme for AFAM, otherwise I would have been happy eating watermelon just like that.

The watermelon season is nearly finished over here. So it was difficult to find a good one. I got inspiration for making this recipe from here

Method

1.Cut triangular slices from the watermelon. Chill the slices in the fridge till they are firm.

2. Make small balls of mango and watermelon with a scooper.Chill them too.

3. Before serving drain the juice , put Vanila Ice cream between two slices of watermelon and also on the top most slice.

4 Decorate with the smalls balls.

The original recipe used grated coconut filling, I used ice cream. Serve immediately .

The photography session and Dilli ki garmi (Delhi summers) melted the ice cream.

So you will find more of ice cream all over in the photo .But the ice cream and watermelon combination tasted good.

For selection and storage of watermelon check here

For more facts check here

AFAM for the month July is being guest hosted by Bee of Jugalbandi.

This is my entry for AFAM July.