Vetalai Sadam

Hubby and older one were going to have leftover biryani for dinner. Which left Mr. Fussy and myself. He wanted fried rice- I could have given it to him, but thout this was the perfect chance to try out a recipe I'd bookmarked a long time back (and the brand new kadhai). Fortune favours the bold- it was a hit.

1 cup rice (uncooked)

3 or 4 betel leaves 

1 tbsp garlic paste

1/4 tsp haldi powder

Salt to taste

For dry masala:

1 tsp sesame seeds seeds

1/4 tsp peppercorns

1 red chilli (I toned it down, 2 would be better)

1/2 tsp ginger powder

For tempering:

1 1/2 tbsp cooking oil

1/4 tsp saunf

1 inch piece cinnamon

1 sprig curry leaves

Method:

Wash and soak rice for 30 mins. Cook till 75% done, keep aside.

Dry roast sesame seeds, peppercorns and dry red chillies in a pan and grind it along with dry ginger powder to a fine powder. Set aside.

Heat oil in a pan, temper the ingredients listed under tempering. Add garlic paste and saute for few seconds. Then add turmeric powder in the oil and immediately add cooked rice, mix everything well.

Finally add chopped betel leaves, ground masala powder and salt and mix well.

Cover and cook for 5 mins or until well cooked, if needed sprinkle some water to avoid drying.

Nightcap to aid digestion

There are those days when you know you have over indulged on rich and spicy food too close to bedtime. You know your stomach is not going to thank you for it the next day, but you really don't have much choice after the deed has been done. Or do you? This drink speeds up digestion, and makes you feel slightly better. Most effective after a meal, you can even have it first thing in the morning to start your da with a dose of healthy.

1/2 tsp ajwain seeds

1 tsp saunf seeds

1 1/2 cups water

Method:

Bring the water to a boil. Reduce the flame, add the ajwain and saunf seeds, and let it simmer for 10 minutes, till the water is reduced to 1 cup. 

Turn off the flame, and let it seep for an additional 10 minutes. Have warm. 

Aam Panna, with jaggary

My mother used to make Aam Panna when I was a child, and I have strong views on what it should taste like and do not like deviating from my norm. But when I saw a recipe for a version which used jaggary instead of sugar, I wanted to try it out. The mix of spices gives it medicinal properties too, but me being me, I will only have it if it tastes good, and it does.

1 raw mango
1/3 cup jaggery
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp saunf/ fennel seeds
1/2 tsp ajwain/ carom seeds
1 green cardamons
Rock salt to taste

Method:
Peel the green mango, slice it into pieces. Cover with water, and boil for 10 minutes till soft.
Meanwhile, dry roast jeera, saunf, ajwain till well roasted, but not burnt. Dry grind and keep aside.
Powder the cardamons and keep aside.
Blend the cooked mango pieces (with the water), and jaggery till well mixed.
Add rock salt and powdered spices.
Store.

To serve, add 1 part of squash to 4 parts water, mix well and serve. You can also use soda instead of water.

Meethi chawal

Both the Tamil and the Punjabi New Years fell today, and though I had to go to work, I intended coming home early. I let the cook take an evening off, but then got delayed at office. Not wanting to order out, I make this "meethi chawal" from Himachal. The jaggery I used was very light in colour, so the dish didn't photograph well, but it tasted much nicer than it looked.
I may not make it again (because I like Shakarai Pongal much more than I did this one), but I know I am going to replicate it with poha soon.

1 cup rice
3 tbsp cashew nuts
3 tbsp raisins
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup jaggery
1 stick cinnamon
3 green cardamom
1 tsp saunf
3 tbsp ghee
 
Method:
Soak the rice half an hour, strain the water, add fresh water, and boil till 70% coked. Use a sieve to strain out the starchy water, rinse with cold water and keep aside.
Heat 1 cup water, add fennel seeds, cardamoms and cinnamon, and allow it to come to a boil. Turn off the flame and keep aside for a few minutes for the flavours to seep in. Add grated jaggery, and stir till it mixes completely (heat the water, if required)
Heat the ghee, and saute the dry fruits and the shredded coconut, till slightly browned.
Add the jaggery water, and cooked rice to the dried fruits and mix well. Cover it with a lid and let the rice cook for 10-15 minutes on low heat (if you feel the rice is sticking to the pan, add a little more water)
Garnish with dry fruits and serve

Sweet and Spicy Dry Chicken

Dinner today was a mishmash of everyone's request. I wanted something spicy, but Thing Two insisted he needed sugar to kill the spice. The Hubby and Thing One both wanted chicken- preferably dry. There was also the slight problem of having to work with the ingredients that were available in the kitchen/ kitchen garden, since I didn't want to go out in the cold. And it had to be something easy.

I browsed the internet for recipes, and tried to decide between two recipes that I liked. Unfortunately, I got the two mixed up, and the recipe I finally made was something all my own (with some jaggery thrown in to keep Thing Two happy). The result- Fantastic Chicken, they all said, before finishing it all off!

1 curry cut Chicken

For Marinating:

1 tbsp Chilli powder

2 tbp dhania powder

2 tbsp Garam Masala Powder

1 tsp haldi powder

Salt to taste

For Masala:

Oil - 3 tblspn

1 tsp Saunf

3 large onions, chopped Onion

2 green chilli Green

3 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste

2 tbsp Jaggery

2 tbsp Lemon Juice

1 sprig curry leaves

Method:

Marinate chicken and leave it for 30 mins.

Heat oil, add saunf and wait till it finishes spluttering.

Add onions and green chilli, and saute till it turns light golden.

Add ginger garlic paste, and curry leaves and fry till the onion is well browned. Make sure the onion is golden, because that what gives good colour to the curry.

Add the marinated chicken and jaggery and mix well.

Cover with a tight lid and cook on a very low flame for 30 mins to 40 mins stirring in between.

Now open the lid and increase the heat. Dry up the chicken, this will make the masala stick to the chicken and get fried.

Add lemon juice, mix well and serve.

Kala Channa Masala

It was one of those days when I had a housefull of people to feed, and no vegetables in the fridge. Since the vegetable vendor comes only after 7, I decided to make rajma or channa, but found only kala channa at home. I first soaked it, then looked for a recipe more substantial than the one that I normally make. It turned out tasting much better than anticipated.

1 cup dry kala chana
1 bay leaf
1 piece cinnamon

2-3 cloves

1 badi elaichi

2 large onions

2 large tomatoes

2 green chillis
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp saung
1/2 tsp jeera
1 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 1/2 tsp dhania powder
1/2 tsp haldi powder
1/2 tsp amchur powder

A pinch of hing

2 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

Method:
Wash the kala chana and soak it for 4- 6 hours (or overnight)
Pressure cook with bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, elaichi, and sufficient water till the chana is cooked (I reduce the flame after the first whistle and cook for 20 minutes). Discard the spices.
Cut one onion in large chunks, and the other finely. Chop tomatoes into large chunks.
Heat 1/2 tbsp of oil and saute onion chunks until light brown, allow to cool and grind with green chili, cumin seeds, fennel seeds with little water into fine paste. Puree tomato and keep aside.
Heat remaining oil, add chopped onion, ginger-garlic paste and saute until golden brown.
Add hing and onion paste and saute until oil starts to separate. Add chilli, dhania powder, turmeric powders and mix well, saute for a minute.
Add puree tomato and mix well, cook in medium to slow until oil separates. Add cooked chana along with water, salt and bring it to boil.
Add amchur powder and simmer for 10 minutes or until gravy thick.
Garnish with dhania patta and/ or chopped onions and serve.

Fennel Pumpkin Curry with Webbed Dosa

Many months back, I saw Vikas Khanna making Webbed Dosa with Pumpkin curry on TV, and took down the recipe on my iphone. The phone got lost, but the recipe was saved on the Cloud and turned up on my new phone. By the time I got down to making it, I had completely forgotten what the original recipe looked like, so recreated it using my imagination.
Verdict- the pumpkin curry was good, but I am not sure the webbed dosa is worth the trouble.

250 gms pumpkin
1 large tomato
4-6 pods garlic
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 sprig curry leaves
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
Cooking oil
Salt to taste

For the dosa
1 cup rajma, cooked
1 cup maida
1 egg
oil for drizzling
salt to taste

Method:
Puree the rajma, mix well with maida and beaten egg. Add salt to taste and keep aside.

Peel the pumpkin slice, and cut it into chunks. Boil till it is slightly soft.
Heat the oil, add garlic (crushed), curry leaves and chopped tomatoes and saute till tomato turns mushy.
Add the chilli flakes and fennel seeds, and saute for a minute
Add the boiled pumpkin, salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, and cook on a low flame for 2-3 minutes

Lightly grease a tawa with oil and heat over high flame till smoky. Reduce heat to medium and carefully wipe off excess oil with a tissue. Using the squeezie bottle or Roti Jala mould, drizzle the kidney bean batter onto the griddle to create a web. Drizzle over with ½ teaspoon oil. As batter sets and turns golden, carefully flip the web over, taking care not to break. Drizzle over ½ teaspoon oil and allow to cook till almost crisp.

Palak paneer, with yoghurt

Palak paneer is a dish I make often, because almost everyone in the family loves it. But today, I wasn't in a mood to make it the conventional way, and so innovated with spices and cooking style. And it came up trumps- not only did it look very different, it tasted lighter than usual, and disappeared as soon as it was placed on the table!

250 gms paneer

1 bunch spinach, cleaned well

2 small onions chopped

4-6 pods garlic

1/2 inch piece ginger

1/2 tsp jeera

1/2 tsp saunf

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

3 tbsp curds

Salt to taste

Cooking oil

Method:

Heat the oil, temper with jeera and saunf, and when they stop spluttering, add onions, garlic and ginger, and saute till the onions turn transparent.

Meanwhile, boil 1 cup water, and blanch the spinach for about 15 minutes.

Grind the onions to paste, and keep aside

Grind the spinach till smooth, and keep aside.

Beat the curds and salt till smooth.

Mix the spinach puree, onion paste and curds. Return to the fire, adding water if required. Once it starts boiling, reduce the flame and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add paneer pieces (reserving a few to grate on top as garnish), bring to boil, before turning off the flame.

Garnish with grated paneer, and serve hot with rotis.

Egg curry with fennel and dil weeds

I had a bunch of boiled eggs and some dill weeds in the fridge, so decided to make the curry that I had fallen in love with more than a month back. It tastes much better as an egg curry than as a potato curry!

 

6 boiled eggs

1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 bay leaf
Paste of 1 large onion
2 tsp ginger paste
1/2 tsp garlic paste
Haldi powder to taste
Chilli powder to taste
Salt to taste
Cooking oil (about 1 tbsp)
Dil leaves for garnish
1/2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
1 tsp sugar, crushed

Method:
In a little oil, fry the boiled eggs till lightly browned.

Heat oil and add fennel seeds and bay leaf, fry for a minute till the aroma releases.
Add a mix of fine onion paste, ginger paste and garlic paste, haldi and chilli powder.
Fry the masala well till oil seperates. 

Add eggs. Bring to boil and take off the fire.
Garnish with dil leaves and a pinch of fennel and sugar powder.

Gavarfali Subji

Whenever I go to the vegetable market, I see bunches of gavarfali lovingly tied together with a rubber band (or a piece of twine). For the longest time, I didn't even know what it was called, and even after I found out, I could never understand why people seemed to treat it with so much reverence. To me, it seemed just like a rustic version of beans (a vegetable none of us is fond of).
Yesterday, however, I decided to be a little more adventurous, and bought a bunch of gavarfali. Now I know why people swear by the vegetable!

250 gms gavarfali (cluster beans)
1/2 tsp jeera
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of hing
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 sprig curry leaves
1 tsp oil
salt to taste

For the curd mixture

1/2 cups curds

2 tsp dhania powder

2 tsp chilli powder

1/4 tbsp besan

salt to taste

Method

String the gavarfali by removing the ends and edged fibre.
Pressure cook the gavarfali in 1 cup of water for 2 whistles. Keep aside.
Combine the curds, coriander powder, chilli powder, gram flour and salt and whisk well.
Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, asafoetida and fennel seeds.
Add the curd mixture, curry leaves, 2 tablespoons of water and salt and stir continuously.
Let the mixture simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the gavarfali along with the water used to pressure cook it. and mix well.
Cook the subzi for a few minutes more.
Serve hot with rotis.

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.

Saunf-ajwain wali Chicken

Kashmiri cuisine uses a unique combination of mustard oil, saunf and ajwain, which I found slightly intriguing. How can three very strong flavours coexist in the same dish? It could either be a complete disaster, or mindblowingly good- and since people have been cooking it for ages, it is more likely to be the latter!

And hence, this dish that I cooked purely by instinct. I tasted a bit of the gravy, and it was indeed good.

1 curry cut chicken, washed and cleaned
1/3 cups curds
1/2 tsp red chill powder
1/2 tsp haldi powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp mustard oil
2 medium onions, cut into small pieces
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1/2 tsp ajwain, lightly crushed
1/2 tsp saunf, lightly crushed

Method:
Marinate chicken in haldi, red chilli powder, salt and curds for about 1 hour
Heat the mustard oil, sauté the chopped onions till they start to turn transparent.
Add ginger paste and lightly crushed saunf and ajwain, and sauté till the onions start browning.
Grind the mixture to paste. Add to the marinated chicken and mix well (do not add water at this stage)
Bring to a boil, reduce the flame, cover and allow it to cook in its own steam for 30-35 minutes (stirring occasionally) till the chicken is well cooked.
Serve hot with steamed rice.

Aloo dum with Fennel Tempering

When I saw this recipe, I knew I just had to try it out, specially since I so seldom use saunf in daily cooking. The original recipe was for an egg curry, but it worked just as well with baby potatoes.

250 gms baby potatoes, boiled and peeled
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 bay leaf
Paste of 1 large onion
2 tsp ginger paste
1/2 tsp garlic paste
Haldi powder to taste
Chilli powder to taste
Salt to taste
Cooking oil (about 1 tbsp)
Dil leaves for garnish
1/2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
1 tsp sugar

Method:
Heat oil and add fennel seeds and bay leaf, fry for a minute till the aroma releases.
Add a mix of fine onion paste, ginger paste and garlic paste, haldi and chilli powder.
Fry the masala well till oil seperates. I added sugar, because the masala seemed to spicy, and it added a nice taste to the dish.
Add boiled potatoes.
Cook on low heat with a minimum of water.
Take off fire. Garnish with dil leaves and a pinch of fennel powder.

Thekua

Growing up, as I did, in what is now Jharkhand, I was seeped in Bihari culture long before I knew something called "culture" even existed. If Holi meant malpuas and dahi vada, even before Diwali got over, you started thinking of Chaat Puja and the thekuas that went with it. While the adventure of going with the large crowd of devotees to the nearest stream at sunset, and sneaking onto a rock and dipping your feet in the cold water gave you the greater thrill, you knew that there was an equally lovely treat to look forward to after you got back home.
I had forgotten all about thekuas, till a recent post, which opened the floodgates of my memory. Decades after I had last had one, I could actually taste the unique taste of thekuas. With a little bit of help from my friends at IFF, and by relying on my own memories, I managed to recreate something that tasted almost exactly like what I remembered it to be.

2 cups whole wheat flour (atta)

a pinch of salt 

4 tbsp ghee 

1/3 to 1/2 cup powdered sugar (you will have to adjust till you get the taste you want)

2 tbsp saunf powdered on a mortar and pestle

2 tbsp grated coconut

Water

Oil for deep frying

Add the salt and ghee to the flour, and mix well.

Add the powdered sugar, the ground saunf and the coconut, and knead till you get a stiff dough. You will have to keep adding the water a little at a time, and rely on instinct to get it right.

Taste a bit of the dough, and add more sugar if you feel you need it.

Roll out into thickish "rotis", and cut into circles (I used a bottle cap).

Heat the oil, and when a tiny piece of dough rises up immediately, reduce the flame and add the cut pieces. Fry in batches and drain on kitchen towels. Allow it to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Beetroot and potatoes in coconut gravey

I had a couple of beetroots languishing in the fridge, aand wanted to make something "different" with them. Checked on the internet, and couldn't find anything that was "just right", so decided to just throw together tastes I thought might work, and this was the result.

2 beetroots, cut into cubes
2 medium potatoes cut into cubes
4 tbsp grated coconut
1 green chilli
1 tsp saunf
salt to taste

For tempering
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 sprig curry leaves
oil

Method
Steam the cubed beetroots and potatoes till soft.
Grind the coconut, green chilli and saunf in the mixer till you get a smooth paste.
Heat the oil, add mustard seeds and curry leaves. When the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the ground masala, and cook it till the the coconut starts browning. Add the steamed vegetables, and water. Cover, and let it cook.
Serve hot with rotis.