Methi Tomato Paneer

This Methi-Tomato Paneer curry recipe is from a Telugu cooking show. It is a simple curry with very simple ingredients, methi, tomato and paneer. It is a great side dish for rice or roti.

I planted my little vegetable garden few weeks back and the saplings have slowly started to grow. My methi plants are also slowly grwoing. Hopefully I can get to cook with my own methi leaves soon :-)

Read more »

Punjabi Dal Tadka

I made this Punjabi Dal tadka along with this Aloo curry for a mini Punjabi meal. Recipe for the dal is from a Telugu cooking show and I have made it quite a few times already.

Like any dal, this is very easy to make and is very hearty and comforting dish. It is a simple dish but tastes amazing and the lovely thing about this dish is it can whipped up for a simple dal-chawal menu on a weeknight or can be served with naans and jeera rice for a party.

Read more »

Punjabi Aloo (Spicy Potato curry with Yogurt)

Blogging Marathon# 62: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: No Tomato Gravies
Dish: Punjabi Aloo
We are starting the final week of this month's marathon and my theme for the week is 'Gravies with No tomatoes'. When I signed up for this theme, I wasn't expecting it to be as difficult as it turned out. I realized that I'm very much dependent on tomatoes for making gravy curries. I have fresh tomatoes, canned tomato paste and puree always in the pantry. Coming up with 3 tomato-free gravy recipes was quite a challenge.

I have tried 3 curry recipes using different ingredients to give the gravy consistency. For the first day, the curry is thickened with yogurt and a little bit of heavy cream. I was skeptical if my yogurt-hating husband would like it or not. But he didn't really notice the yogurt that much, so this curry goes into our recipe rotation.

Read more »

Amritsari Chole (Spicy Chickpea Curry)

Blogging Marathon# 47: Week 3/ Day 2
Theme: Recipes from Menu Card
Dish: Amritsari Chole

We are going to order some 'Amritsari Chole' from Puranmal restaurant. There are a ton of chickpea curry variations from the Punjab/ Haryana region and I'm sure each household has there own version of these curries. So when I saw Amritsari Chole on the menu, I wanted to see how different it was from the other chole recipes.

Amritsari chole is a very flavorful and delicious curry. I've never cooked chickpeas with tea leaves and this is one of the essential steps for this curry. The tea leaves make the chickpeas a deep dark color, but the taste of tea is not very prominent and doesn't change the taste of the dish.

Read more »

Palak Badam Shorba (Spinach Almond Soup)

Blogging Marathon# 47: Week 3/ Day 1
Theme: Recipes from Menu Card
Dish: Palak Badam Shorba

We are starting 3rd week of blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is 'Recipes from Menu Card'. Valli gave us a few menu cards to choose from and I picked the menu from Puranmal restaurant. We are supposed to pick dishes from 3 different courses, so I have 3 yummy restaurant style dishes coming up this week.

I love reading menu cards and even though in a non-Indian restaurant here in the US, there are probably just 3~4 vegetarian dishes that I might be interested, I still make sure to look at all the pages for good measure :-)

Read more »

Rajma Chawal (Red Kidney Bean Curry with Rice)

Blogging Marathon# 47: Week 3/ Day 1
Theme: Combo Dishes
Dishes: Rajma Chawal

We are starting our 3rd week of Blogging Marathon today and my theme for this week 'Combo Dishes'. Valli gave us a list of combo dishes and we have to select 3 and post under this theme. So the first combo I chose is Rajma Chawal.

Rajma or red kidney beans cooked with tomatoes and spices is a very filling and hearty dish that is perfect for this time of the year. Served with chawal or rice, there is nothing more comforting than that. I didn't use a whole lot of spices in the curry since I was cooking for the kids, but you can definitely amp up the spice volume, if that is how you like it :-)

Read more »

Kashmiri Paneer Tikka Masala (Vegetarian recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 45: Week 2/ Day 3
Theme: North Indian Side dishes
Dish: Kashmiri Tikka Masala

After making Lucknowi dal and Punjabi Kadhi Pakora for the first 2 days of North Indian side dishes, for the final day this week's BM, I made a spicy Kashmiri Paneer Tikka masala. I actually made all of the dishes on the same day and they can all be served together as part of a North Indian meal/ thali along with simple jeera rice or roti.

My mom bought a jar of Kashmiri Tikka masala from her Kashmir trip and I used it in this curry. But the tikka masala can also be made at home. I'm including the recipe for tikka masala from 660 curries here.

Read more »

Punjabi Kadhi Pakora

Blogging Marathon# 45: Week 2/ Day 2
Theme: North Indian Side dishes
Dish: Punjabi Kadhi Pakora

For the second day of BM# 45 under 'North Indian side dishes', I made Punjabi Kadhi Pakora. Kadhi is the North Indian version of South Indian Majjiga pulusu (in Telugu) or Mor kuzhambu (in Tamil). The flavors are slightly different, but essentially it is a buttermilk based dish that is thickened with besan/ chickpea flour or ground chana/ chickpeas.

Read more »

Lucknowi Dal

Blogging Marathon# 45: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: North Indian Side dishes
Dish: Lucknowi Dal

We are starting our second week of Blogging Marathon# 45 today. My theme for this week is 'North Indian Side Dishes' and I have 3 delicious sides planned for the next 3 days.
First up is Lucknowi Dal. Dal is a quintessential dish on almost all Indian menus. Dal/ lentils are one of the best sources of protein for vegetarians and I always plan at least protein based dish for all my meals.
As I was looking for some North Indian dal recipes, I found this interesting and different dal on Farrukh's blog. It is a no-onion, no-tomato recipe, but has one very unusual ingredient in it, Milk. I was initially skeptical how this dal would taste, but it tasted really good. I didn't really taste the milk, but it added a nice creaminess to the dish. My kids and even my husband really liked this dal. I will be making this dal often especially when I'm running out of tomatoes and onions.

Read more »

Palak Paneer (Curried Spinach & Cottage Cheese)

Palak Paneer is probably one dish that is on ALL Indian restaurant menu cards around the world. Restaurant can be South Indian, North Indian or any Indian cuisine at all, I'm sure all of them have Saag Paneer or Palak Paneer on their menu. It is that famous and if you are an Indian food aficionado, you probably tasted it at least once. 

There are quite a few recipes on the internet for palak paneer. Each one using different spice blends and some blend the spinach to a paste and some use it just as is. I like my palak paneer creamy and smooth. 

Read more »

Punjab -- Makki di Roti & Sarson ka Saag

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 23
State: Punjab
Dish: Makki di Roti & Sarson ka Saag

We are going all the way northwest of India to Punjab today. Punjab means five (punj) and ab (water), thus the land of five rivers. It has the most fertile land. Agriculture is the largest industry in Punjab and it is the single largest producer of wheat in India.
I lived in Punjab the first few months of my life -- so naturally I don't remember anything. My mom went to Chandigarh (Captial of Punjab and Haryana) as a young bride and lived there for couple of years. She said the Punjabi neighbors there were very friendly and used to share homemade food with her. I asked her if she remembers any dishes or recipes, but she couldn't recollect any specifics (understandably so since it has been 30+ years). But she does remember the hearty sarson ka saag and makki di roti that the neighbor used to send over.
Punjabi dishes are probably the most famous Indian dishes all over the world with every Indian restaurant across the globe serving Naan, Mutter-Paneer and Lassi. Punjabi cuisine, however varies significantly between home cooked, restaurant style or the dhabas (roadside restaurants in India serving authentic Punjabi food). Punjabi cuisine is wholesome and is full of rustic flavors. Homemade ghee and masalas (spices) form the center of Punjabi dishes.
Today Dish(es): I decided to make this hearty, homey and very popular Punjabi dishes: Makki di roti & Sarson ka Saag. Makki di roti is made gluten free corn flour and it takes quite a bit of practice to get them right. This is my first attempt making them and might I say, it wasn't easy and there was a lot of stomach grumbling and mumbling from the rest of family for the delay in serving lunch. After struggling for some time, I was able to make a few good enough for the pictures, the rest were just eaten -- ahem without looking at the shape -- 'cos they were too hungry.

Read more »

Bengali Malpua

When I think of Bengali cuisine, the first thing that comes to my mind is Bengali sweets, rasogullas, sandesh and all the other delectable concoctions using milk and sugar. So when cooking Bengali dishes for BM# 22, it only makes sense to end this week with a delicious Bengali dessert.

Read more »

Aloo Paratha

I have nothing to boast about my roti making skills. I have to kick myself in the back for not even trying to watch and learn when my mom made rotis. I couldn’t even roll a roti (I’m not too confident even now, to be honest) until my husband taught me how to. He used to make rotis for us and slowly I started learning and making them on my own. Both of us are not big roti eaters and frankly during the week I don’t have time to make them. When my MIL visits us, she makes the rotis since I don’t want to embarrass myself with the outcome. I only have a couple of recipes that work well for me and with my limited skills I avoid any recipe that has any complicated instructions like stuffing, folding etc.

So when Valli announced that “Indian Breads” was one of the themes for4th blogging marathon, I decided to challenge myself and make 7 different types of Indian breads that I’ve never made before. For the next one week I’ll be posting my roti successes and mishaps as they occur in my kitchen. I found an excellent site by Yogi Gupta that has detailed recipes for a ton of Indian dishes along with a whole section on Indian breads. Most of my trials are from this website.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m trying to make (and learn) 7 different types of Indian breads that involve stuffing, rolling, using different flours, leaveners etc. To start of my Blogging Marathon #4 (Group 3), I made this basic Aloo Paratha – Potato Stuffed Indian Bread. I was skeptical about filling oozing out and rotis turning into disks, but the end result were soft yummy parathas that were just perfect (for my standards).

What did I learn: Making Stuffed parathas is not Rocket Science.

Ingredients:
Atta (Chapati flour) – 3 cups
Salt – ½ tsp Ghee – 2tbsp (I used vegetable shortening instead)
Water – 1 cup (or as needed)

Filling:
Potatoes – 3-4 medium, boiled and mashed
Red chili powder – ½ tsp (or to taste)
Lime juice – 1tbsp
Ghee – 1tbsp (optional)
Salt – to taste

Method:

• Sift flour, salt and red chili powder. Add ghee and rub into the flour mixture until it forms crumbs. Add water and knead to make soft and smooth dough. Cover dough with a damp paper towel or plastic wrap for about an hour.
• In the meantime, make the filling by mixing all the ingredients under “Filling”, this should have the consistency of dough. Divide the filling mixture into 8 equal parts.
• Divide the dough into 8 equal parts.
• Roll out the dough to about 4-5” diameter circle. Place the one of the filling part in the center. Pull the dough around the filling to cover and forms a ball. Gently flatten the dough ball with the fill and roll out carefully to form a 6” diameter circle.
• Heat tawa and cook the paratha for about 1 minute; flip over and cook for another 1 minute. Brush some ghee/ oil on the top surface; flip and cook for another 1 minute. Brush the other side with ghee/ oil and cook for another 1 minute. So it takes about 4 minutes to make the paratha with each side cooked for 2 minutes each.
• Remove on a clean kitchen towel, cover until all the parathas are made. Serve with yogurt and pickle.

Lets see what my fellow marathoners BM#4 have been cooking up today.

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree
Seven Days of Cakes:Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

Kashmiri Dum Aloo for ICC-November

For this month’s Indian Cooking Challenge, Valli chose a yummy gravy dish from Kashmir. I don’t think I’ve ever made anything Kashmiri and didn’t know that they use ground ginger in cooking. I was excited to try the recipe, but had to make some changes to the recipe due to my husband’s dietary concerns. He doesn’t eat yogurt, I can sneak in couple of spoons of yogurt in a dish but the original recipe from Indian food called for 2½ cups of yogurt, which is a little difficult to camouflage for a super-sensitive dairy hater.

I used the same spices as the original recipe, but changed the sauce ingredients to suit our taste. I used onion paste & cashew butter to make the sauce rich and creamy. I made it in a pressure cooker instead of using the traditional ‘dum’ method due to lack of time. Here is how I made it:

Ingredients:
Baby Potatoes – 12, scrubbed (I peeled them as my potatoes were a little dirty to begin with)
Onion – 1 large, chopped
Tomato paste – 2tsp
Yogurt -3tbsp
Cumin seeds – 1tsp, roasted and ground into a powder
Kashmiri Lal mirch powder – 1tsp
Ginger powder – 1tsp
Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
Cloves – 6, roasted and powdered
Garam masala – 1tsp
Ginger + garlic paste – 1tsp
Red chili powder – ½ tsp
Cashew butter – 2tbsp
Asafetida (Hing)– pinch
Salt – to taste

Method:

• Poke the potatoes with a fork and drop them in a bowl of salted water for 20 minutes. Drain the water and set aside in a colander.
• In the mean time, heat 2tbsp oil in a large sauté pan. Sauté the potatoes until they are golden brown on all sides. Remove onto a paper towel.
• In a bowl whisk together yogurt, ginger powder, cardamom powder, fennel powder, Kashmiri chili powder and ½ cup water. Add the fried potatoes and mix well.
• In the same pan used for frying potatoes, add onions and sauté until lightly brown. Add ginger+garlic paste and cook for another minute. Let the mixture cool for a bit and grind into a smooth paste along with cashew butter.
• Add 2tsp mustard oil in a pressure cooker, add hing and clove powder and mix well. Add the onion paste and cook for couple of minutes.
• Next add tomato paste and cook for 2-3 minutes. Pour ½ cup water and salt, bring to a boil.
• Add the potato & yogurt mixture and garam masala, mix well and cover with the lid. Cook on high flame for 1 whistle.
• After the pressure releases, open the lid and garnish with coriander leaves and serve with roti or naan.

Thank you Valli for choosing such a flavorful dish for ICC and I hope you wouldn't my tweaking the original recipe. We thoroughly enjoyed the dish and I’ll be making this whenever I get my hands on some baby potatoes.