Ragi korakattai

I'm trying to mix up the cereals in our diet, and my new favourite is ragi flour. These steamed dumplings are similar to the savoury korakattai made with rice flour, and I absolutely love them because they can be rustled up in a jiffy and taste really good. 

I use only half the indicated quantity of jaggery, but this is the original recipe. 

1 cup ragi flour

1/2 cup grated coconut 

1/2 cup grated jaggery

1/2 tsp cardamom powder

A pinch of salt

3 tbsp water

Method:

Mix the dry ingredients together (keeping aside 1 tbsp coconut), add water gradually to make a firm dough. 

Roll into lemon sized balls and press into an oval shape. 

Steam in a steaming plate or an idli maker for 10 minutes. 

Garnish with coconut and sugar before serving. 

Chai cookies

I love chai, and when I saw a recipe for chai flavoured cookies, I just had to try it out. The first attempt was a bit of a disaster, but I tried again soon after. Unfortunately, the flavour of cardamon was the dominant one, and the older one even dubbed it kheer cookies. It tasted good, but not the way I wanted it to taste- which means, I get to experiment a bit more!

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon tea leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom, optional
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 tbsp milk

Method:
Dry grind the sugar and tea leaves in a blender till well powdered.
Combine the flour, sugar, powdered sugar, tea mix, and salt, till well mixed (add cardamom powder if using).

Add the vanilla and butter and knead together to get a rough dough. Add the milk gradually till you get a batter.
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees.Drop spoonfulls of the batter onto the greased cookie tray, and bake for 10 to 12 minutes till the edges start to brown. Cook for 5 minutes in the oven, then transfer to a wire rack for cooking. Store after cooling down completely.

Summer drink with subja seeds

"What's that?", my older one asked me when he saw me having water fortified with subja seeds. I promised to make him a proper drink with the seeds, and prepared this. Unfortunately, neither of the kids quite liked the kick of pepper, but I wasn't complaining because that enabled me to have two glasses instead of one!

Sabja seeds -2 tablespoons
Water -500 ml
Jaggery- 2 tablespoons
Cardamom powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Black pepper powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Method
Soak the seeds in 100ml water for 30 minutes.
Warm the rest of the water, dissolve the jaggery. Add cardamom powder and black pepper powder and mix well. Remove from heat and leave to cool back to room temperature.
Once the  jaggery water is at room temperature, and the basil seeds have swelled mix them all together well. Pour into serving glasses and refrigerate for some time before serving.

Koliwadi curry with coconut and coriander

I discovered this recipe soon after moving to Mumbai in 2008, and fell in love with it. The original was witha Koliwadi recipe for shrimps, but since I don't have them, I substituted it with baby potatoes. It was lovely, and I have made it several times since. It is one of my favourite dishes to make when I have people over, since it is so very simple and effective. Though I am making it after a couple of years, it was every bit as good as I remembered.

3 tbsp cooking oil
1 onion, grated
½ tsp haldi powder
6 whole cardamom pods, lightly crushed to split open
1 tsp chilli powder
1 cinnamon stick
2 tsp ginger- garlic paste
1 bunch fresh coriander
1 small coconut, grated
salt to taste

Method:
Boil the baby potatoes, peel, prick and keep aside.
Saute onions for 2-3 minutes until softened but not coloured, then add the turmeric, cardamom pods and chilli powder. Cook for 1-2 minutes until fragrant, stirring constantly.
Add cinnamon, tomatoes and garlic-ginger paste, and saute for another 1-2 minutes until the tomatoes have softened
Meanwhile, reserve a few coriander sprigs for garnish and blend the remainder with the grated coconut.

Stir the ground gravy into the sauteed onions, mix well, add water and salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 1-2 minutes, then stir in the potatoes. Continue to simmer for a minute, stirring constantly.
Garnish with the reserved coriander sprigs and serve with rice or chapattis.

Chaman Kaliya

The moment I set eyes on Anshie Dhar's Chaman Kaliya, I knew I had to make it. The mix of flavours looked interesting, and I have had a good experience with all her other dishes. So when we had guests over, tonight, I didn't hesitate before deciding to make this for them.
To say it was a hit is a bit of an understatement, and I felt almost resentful of the fact that a dish that got cooked in such a jiffy walked away with so much of the praise. But that's life, isn't it?

400 gms Paneer (home made)
2 cups milk
2 cloves
3 Green cardamoms
1 tsp Cumin
1 Tbs Ghee
1/2 tsp Turmeric
1 1/2 tsp fennel powder (saunf)
A pinch of saffron
1/8th tsp ginger powder
salt to taste
1/2 tsp Kashmiri Garam Masala ( Or use your favorite brand)

Method:
If you have freshly made Paneer cut it into squares or rectangles.
If you have store bought paneer, Soak it in hot milk for at least 30 minutes before cooking the dish. (this milk is in addition to the one cup you need to make the dish)
Heat ghee and add the cumin, cloves and the cardamom. It helps if you slightly whack the cardamom with a pestle or a heavy spoon.
Add in the milk, bring it to a boil add in the rest of the spices, except saffron and garam masala.
Simmer this for about 2- 3 minutes , then add the paneer and bring to a rolling boil. Add in the salt.
Bring to a simmer again and let it cook undisturbed for 10 - 15 minutes or until the paneer looks creamy, yellow and soft.
Finish off with Garam masala and saffron and let it stand for 30 minutes before serving. Reheat gently and serve with rice.

Creamy egg curry

Cloves, cinnamon and cardamon. Kenzy's creamy egg curry had me at 'Hello'. Only, instead of making it with eggs, I decided to experiment with soya nuggets instead. I adjusted the chilli down from 3 to 1, but even that proved too spicy for the kids- I underestimated the power it would unleash when ground- next time, I tone it down even more.

1 big onion
1 inch ginger
1 small green chili (or a part of a larger one)
½ liter milk
1-2 tblspns oil
Salt to taste
3/4 cup soya nuggets soaked in warm water for about 10 minutes

¼ tspn Bengali garam masala (equal parts ground cinnamon, cloves and cardamom)
A couple of sprigs coriander to garnish (optional)


Method:
Grind the onion, ginger and chilies to a fine paste, without adding water.
Heat oil. Add the ground paste n sauté well till the paste changes to a darker color n the onions are cooked.
Take off from fire. After 2-3 minutes, gradually add warm milk and stir to blend the milk well with the fried onion/ginger//chilies paste.
Put the vessel back on slow fire n allow it to heat up. Stir continuously.
Let the gravy boil on low heat till you achieve the desired thick consistency for the gravy- I let it thicken to slightly less than cream consistency.
Add soya nuggets which had been soaked in warm water (for about 10 minutes).
Allow the curry to simmer for a couple of minutes.
Add salt, Bengali garam masala and simmer for half a minute.
Garnish with coriander leaves n serve with steamed rice.