Sambhariyu Shaak (Gujarati Stuffed Mixed Vegetable Curry)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines 

Week 3: Gujarati Cuisine 

Day 19: S for Sambhariya Shaak

Today's Gujarati dish is yet another traditional vegetable dish. Here the veggies are stuffed with a spicy coconut filling and then pressure cooked until cooked to perfection. Another amazing recipe from Tarla Dalal.com.

All of my recipes for this week are from Tarla Dala's site. It has been a great resource and I love watching her videos as well. She makes even a hard recipe sound very easy to make.

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Cheese and Potato Gözleme for #BreadBakers

I almost forgot that today's the posting day for #BreadBakers. I'm glad that I checked Facebook to see our lovely Host, Anshie's post about the event, otherwise I would have totally forgotten about it. So thank you Anshie for reminding and also for being such a gracious host.

Our theme for this month is 'Griddle breads' and I almost wanted to make an Indian bread. But then as I was looking through my Pinterest boards, I found these Turkish Gözleme that I had pinned a while back.

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Spanakopita Triangles (using Frozen spinach)

Blogging Marathon# 60: Week 2/ Day 3

Theme: Take-Away dishes from Metropulos, Santa Barbara

Dish: Spanakopita Triangles (with frozen spinach and no egg)

For the final day of this week's BM, I made these addictive Spanakopita. It is a very popular savory baked Greek pastry. Filling made with spinach, onion & feta is enclosed in a flaky filo/ phyllo pastry and then baked till golden. This has been on my to-try list for a very long time and I'm glad I can now strike it off of my list :-)

Filo sheets are a little difficult to work with. They are temperamental and if not treated properly they tend to tear apart. So make sure to keep them covered with a damp kitchen towel or paper towels to avoid that. My filo sheets came out of the box with rips, but once I buttered, layered and folded them, they looked just fine. So don't worry if your sheets start ripping, just keep going and all will be well in the end, you just have to trust me on this :-)

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Navratan Paratha

Blogging Marathon# 59: Week 3/ Day 3

Theme: Stuffed Dishes

Dish: Navratan Paratha

After a stuffed curry and stuffed paratha, I was wondering what to make for the 3rd day in this series. I had some stuffed desserts and pasta dishes bookmarked but nothing really wanted me to get up and cook. Then I watched the recipe for this Navratan paratha on a cooking show and I knew that the 3rd dish was set.

As the name suggests this paratha recipe is stuffed with 9 gems or Nav-ratan or 9 different veggies and dry fruit. All the 9 ingredients are boiled and mashed along with spices and then stuffed inside the dough to make the parathas.

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Spinach & Paneer Stuffed Paratha

Blogging Marathon# 59: Week 3/ Day 2

Theme: Stuffed Dishes

Dish: Spinach & Paneer Stuffed Paratha

Today's Stuffed dish is a simple paratha that is stuffed with spinach and grated paneer. I call it a simple dish because the filling is not really stuffed into the dough, it is put on the roti and folded while cooking making this a perfect recipe for anyone who thinks making stuffed rotis is difficult.

There are about 3~4 versions for palak paneer parathas on Tarla Dalal's site and this was probably the easiest one to make, perfect even for the most novice cook.

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Bhindi Masala Curry (Spicy Stuffed Okra Curry)

Blogging Marathon# 59: Week 3/ Day 1

Theme: Stuffed Dishes

Dish: Stuffed Bhindi Masala Curry

We are starting a new week of blogging marathon today and my theme for the week is 'Stuffed Dishes'. First up is a delicious stuffed bhindi/ okra in a tomato gravy recipe.

Recipe is from a Telugu cooking show. It looked like a show stopper and I noted it down in my book. As I was looking for dishes to make for this week, this one looked very tempting and luckily I was able to buy some nice looking okra too.

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Imam Biyildi (Turkish Stuffed Eggplant)

Blogging Marathon# 57: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Eggplant Dishes from here

Dish: Imam Biyaldi

We are back to our regular 3 days a week blogging this month. My theme for this week is 'Eggplant Dishes' and if you follow my blog you know my love for eggplant and there is no way I would miss this theme. Valli gave us a list of eggplant dishes to choose from, so for the next 3 days I will be posting 3 eggplant dishes from around the world.

The baby and the big eggplants you see in the below pictures were picked fresh from the farm and the long Japanese eggplants are from my backyard garden. All these fresh eggplants were a great inspiration to cook for this theme.

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Vegetarian Tamales with Spinach, Corn and Cheese Filling

Blogging Marathon# 54: Week 3/ Day 2

Theme: Kid's Delight -- Cooking from Kid's Books/ TV shows

Dish: Tamales with Spinach, Corn & Cheese Filling 

For the second day of BM# 54 under 'Kid's Delight: Cooking from story books/ TV shows', I made Tamales. I asked my son to give me ideas for this week's theme and he said he watched a TV show where they made tamales and he wanted me to try them too.
Tamales have been on my to-make list for a very very long time. I asked my blog buddy Mir to buy me some corn husks and the sweet heart she is, she brought me a big bag of corn husks that I finally got to use today.

Tamales are made with masa harina, a traditional flour used to make corn tortillas and other Mexican dishes. The flour is made from dried masa, a dough made specially from treated corn. If you want to know more about masa harina, read this. The masa dough encases the filling and the whole tamale is wrapped in a corn husk or a banana leave and either steamed or boiled.

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Korean Onion Bread (Yang PaBbang)

Blogging Marathon# 52: Week 4/ Day 2

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes

Dish: Korean Onion Bread from Varada's Kitchen
The second bread that I really wanted to bake right away was Varada's 'Korean Onion Bread'. It looked so colorful and interesting with the onion, pepper and cheese filling and topping. I remember seeing something similar in the local Korean bakery, which was another reason for me try it at home.
I made it for my Mother's day lunch and the entire loaf was gone by the end of the day. It looked and tasted delicious with the cheesy center and topping.

Original recipe had ham in it and Varada used red peppers instead. I think that was a brilliant idea because red pepper gave the bread a beautiful color and makes it taste hearty & yummy!!

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Sri Lankan Seeni Sambol Buns for #BreadBakers

Theme for this month's Bread Bakers is 'Stuffed Breads' and I have bookmarked quite a few stuffed breads from our recent mega marathon. But luckily, Priya picked buns for this month's 'Home Bakers Challenge' and she had these amazing looking caramelized onion filled Sri Lankan buns on the list.

Seeni Sambol is a Sri Lankan relish made with onions. (Seeni means sugar). This seeni sambol is a sweet, tangy and sour relish that is served with any savory meal or as a sandwich filling. So as the name suggests these buns are stuffed with seeni sambol or sweet onion relish.

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Spinach Fatayer

Continuing with the baking theme, I have a delicious savory stuffed pastry from the Middle East. This one is again from 'Veggiestan: A Vegetable Lover's Tour of the Middle East' cookbook by Sally Butcher. I had initially planned on posting this dish for the baking marathon, but had to move to the weekend because of other dishes.

These savory pastries are Turkish version of our samosas though there are quite a few differences. First off the pastry is yeast based unlike samosas (which is similar to pie crust) and these are baked and not fried like the samosas. Filling has spinach and onions along with walnuts and is flavored with tangy sumac, lemon juice and pomegranate puree.

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Afghani Bolani (Potato Stuffed Afghani Flat bread)

Blogging Marathon# 49: Week 4/ Day 2

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes

Dish: Afghani Bolani

For day 2 of this week's marathon,  I made a stuffed flatbread from Afghanistan called Bolani. This recipe has been on my to-make list ever since I saw a bunch of my fellow bloggers make it for the A-Z International marathon.

Bolani also spelled as Bulani or Boulanee is filled bread in Persian. Afghani bolani is a stuffed flatbread that is either baked or fried. It has a thin crust and can be stuffed with any veggie like potato, pumpkin, spinach, lentils or chives. It is served with either plain yogurt or mint yogurt. Since my husband doens't eat yogurt, I made him a simple tomato chutney.

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Stuffed Karela/ Bittergourd Curry with Garlic (Kakarakaya Vellullikaram)

I am always looking for new ways of cooking bitter gourd, so when I saw this recipe on a Telugu cooking show I promptly noted it down. Then my sister asked me a recipe for stuffed karela and I gave her this recipe and they totally loved it. After hearing the feedback I decided to make it myself and she was right, this is a delicious stuffed karela recipe.

One thing I learnt from this recipe is we don't need baby bitter gourd to make stuffed curry. Just use regular sized ones and cut them into chunks. Remove the seeds from the middle and hollow out the centers, then stuff them with spicy ground masala.

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Turkish Sarma -- Stuffed Grape Leaves (Vegetarian recipe)

I had these stuffed grape leaves at my Turkish friend's house for the first time. Her mom had brought grape leaves from Turkey and made these for us. I have never tasted anything like these before and really liked them. So when I was planning my Turkish menu, I wanted to give these a try too.

I am lucky to have Turkish grocery stores very close to my house. So after a quick trip to the store, I was equipped with a big can of grape leaves. The stuffing/ filling is like tomato rice and is very flavorful and tasty by itself. Once the grape leaves are stuffed, they need to be boiled for about 30 minutes and you have a very tasty appetizer ready. These are traditionally served with yogurt sauce, but I skipped it and ate them as is.

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Amritsari Aloo Kulcha (Potato Stuffed Indian Bread) for ICC

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC), Valli wanted us to make an Indian bread, Amritsari Aloo Kulcha. After the April mega marathon where explored the dishes from all the Indian states, I've decided not to skip any ICC editions because it is a good opportunity to learn regional dishes from different parts of India. Also Valli always makes it a point to challenge us to try dishes that are unique and tries to get authentic recipes of the same.

This month's challenge fit right into our meal plan. While my in-laws were here we ate rotis at least 3~4 times a week, so these stuffed parathas fit right in. If it's just us, I make rotis may be once a week, since my husband travels almost weekly. 

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West Bengal -- Lobong Lathika

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 30
State: West Bengal
Dish: Lobong Lathika

The last Indian state we are going to visit today is West Bengal. It is located in eastern India and is the fourth most populated state in India. It is a major agricultural producer in India. West Bengal is noted for its political activism and for its cultural activities and presence of cultutal and educational institutions. The state capital Kolkata is known as the 'Cultural Capital of India'. The state's cultural heritage, besides varied folk traditiona, ranges from stalwarts in literature including Nobel-laureate Rabindranath Tagore to scores of musicians, film makers and artists. West Bengal is also distinct from most other Indian states in its appreciation and practice of playing football besides the national favorite sport Cricket.
Like the other states I mentioned, my dad was in West Bengal on work for extended period of time. He would send us rasgullas in big containers, which is why I wrongfully thought rasgullas were from Bengal (they are actually from Orissa). He brought back a a variety of beautiful clay dolls from Ghurni. Showcases in my parents house are filled with these lovely dolls.
Cuisine: Rice and fish are traditional favorite foods in Bengal. Bengalis LOVE their fish and have a vast repertoire of fish based dishes. Sweets/ desserts occupy a very important place in Bengali's diet and at their social ceremonies. They make distinctive sweets from milk products, like roshogolla, chomchom, kalojam, sandesh, pitha and the list is endless.

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Stuffed Baby Eggplants Curry with Peanuts

My love for eggplants is well known in my family and even among my blogging buddies (I'm sure at least 2 of them must be nodding their heads and thinking -- eggplant recipe, AGAIN.. come on Pavani :-) But I can't miss an opportunity to buy them and eat them.
Last weekend I found cute little baby eggplants at the Indian grocery, they were the perfect size to make stuffed eggplants. I bought a few, of course. 

As I was leafing through Chandra Padmanabhan's 'Dakshin', I found this easy stuffed eggplant recipe called 'Sagalay'. This peanut stuffing was a variation to a more elaborate recipe that was actually featured in the book. I already have a stuffed eggplant recipe with peanut and spices. I was in no mood to saute and grind a ton of spices for the stuffing and this 4 ingredient stuffing caught my eye right away.

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Indian style Stuffed Peppers with Potato Curry

Blogging Marathon# 34: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Cooking with Capsicum/ Peppers
Dish: Stuffed Peppers with Potato Curry

After a spicy pickle and a creamy pesto recipe with peppers, I have one of my favorite childhood stuffed bell pepper dish. My mom used to make it years ago and I loved the little capsicum boats stuffed with yummy potato curry. So for this week's 'Cooking with Capsicum/ Bell Pepper' theme, even though I had another dish in mind I ended up making this stuffed capsicum curry.

I have a paneer stuffed peppers cury already on the blog, but that is a rich dish with paneer and heavy cream. Today's dish is very homey with potato curry stuffing that is slightly spicy. Peppers in India are much smaller and the whole pepper can be hulled out and filled just like a plum tomato. But in the US, peppers are huge and so I halved them and stuffed the halves, then pan fried them until tender.

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Baked Vegetarian Chili Rellenos (Low fat)

Blogging Marathon# 31: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Mexican Cuisine
Dish: Baked Chili Rellenos - low fat 

I usually try to include 1 dessert recipe whenever I pick a theme for BM. So keeping that in mind I tried to make a Mexican flan and made it eggless. But unfortunately my caramel got burnt and the flan was way too rubbery. Imagine my embarrassment when I took it over to my friend's place for dinner -- it was so bitter, we ended up eating ice cream from my friend's freezer :-(

After that colossal dessert failure, I figured it's best to try something savory. I had bought some poblano chilies without any particular recipe in mind. I remembered this amazing Chile Rellenos dish that we ate at a Mexican restaurant years ago and wanted to give it a try.

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Bedmi Poori

Blogging Marathon: Week 2/ Day 3
Theme: Traditional Dishes
Dish: Bedmi Poori

Today's traditional dish is from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. It is a poori stuffed with  spiced urad dal paste. The end result is this slightly different pooris that are very filling and delicious.

I followed the recipes from Valli's and Vaishali's posts. My pooris didn't fluff up like Vaishali's, but they tasted great anyway.

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