JFI-Potato

This month’s ingredient for JFI is our family favorite – potato and is being hosted by lovely Vaishali from her kitchen in Pune. I can’t imagine cooking without potato, most of you would probably agree with me on that. It can easily be dressed up or down, be it the simple potato fry (bhaji) or the more fancy Dum aloo Kashmiri; no other vegetable draws in such a crowd or flavor. I don’t want to go on and on about the sugunas (excellent quality) of potatoes, as you all know them very well.

So here’s my entry, Oven Roasted Potatoes with cheese sauce. This is an extremely simple dish, quick to make and can be served any meal of the day.

Ingredients:
Potatoes - 3, thoroughly cleaned and scrubbed
Herbe de province or Italian seasoning– 2 tbsp
Salt and pepper – to taste

For the cheese sauce:
Butter – 1 tbsp
Flour – 1 tbsp
Milk (low fat) – 1 cup
Cheddar or Monterey or Pepper Jack cheese (low fat) – 1 cup grated
Tomato paste – 1 tbsp

Method:

• To make the fries: Preheat oven to 400ºF. Cut potatoes into long wedges. Spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet (I cover my baking sheet with an aluminum foil for easy clean up). Spray with non stick cooking spray and add the herbs, salt and pepper. Toss lightly with your fingers and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are crispy tender. Don’t forget to stir them once in between for uniform browning.
• Mean while make the cheese sauce. Melt butter in a saucepan, whisk in the flour and cook for 2 minutes or until the flour loses the raw smell.
  
• Add tomato paste and mix well to incorporate into the roux. Slowly whisk in the milk, making sure there are no lumps formed in the sauce.
  
• Bring the milk to a gentle simmer, add salt and pepper to taste and stir in the cheese. Let the cheese melt, remove and keep aside.

When the fries are ready, liberally douse with cheese sauce and serve hot.

E for Eggplant in Coconut Gravy

Eggplant is my favorite vegetable and I can have it for all my meals. I never understood why some people don’t like it, but I guess I am heavily biased toward it. If I have to do an A-Z of vegetables, it’ll probably look like this:

A for Aubergine (German, UK)
B for Baingan (Hindi)
E for Eggplant (US)
K for Katharikai (Tamil)
M for Makhua (Malaysia)
T for Terong (Thai)
V for Vankaya (Telugu) and so on.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise if I submit “E for Eggplant in coconut gravy” for Nupur’s A-Z of Indian Vegetables series. I used Japanese eggplants, the skinny long ones. They taste sweeter than the large round eggplants.

Ingredients:
Japanese eggplants – 3, cut into match sticks
Red onions – 1 medium, thinly sliced
Green chilies – 3, chopped
Ginger – ½ tsp, minced
Garlic – 2 cloves, chopped fine
Tomatoes – 2 ripe or ¼ cup tomato puree
Curry powder – 1 tsp
Coconut milk (light) – ½ cup
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Red chili powder – ½ tsp
Salt – to taste
Method:

• Heat a large non stick skillet, sauté the eggplant pieces in 1 tsp oil until nicely browned on all sides. I used non-stick spray and worked in batches so that the skillet is not crowded and all the pieces are browned evenly. Remove and keep aside.
  
• Heat 2 tsp oil in the same skillet, add onions, chilies, ginger and garlic and sauté till the onions are lightly browned.
• Add turmeric, tomatoes, curry powder and red chili powder, cover and cook till the tomatoes get mushy (or until the tomato puree doesn’t smell raw anymore).
  
• Add the fried eggplant pieces and 1 cup of water (use less if you don’t want your gravy to be runny), cover and cook for 5 -7 minutes until the eggplant pieces soak up the spices.
• Add coconut milk, salt and cook for about 3 more minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with steaming hot rice.
  

Rice with Eggplant Curry and Lemon-Ginger pickle (Priya)

Soy Flakes Masala Curry

This is another one of those recipes I jotted down in my little trusty diary during my India trip. I couldn’t find soy flakes in India grocery here, so I bought 2 boxes from India. This recipe goes really well with rotis and chapathis.

Ingredients:
Soy Flakes – 1 cup
Onion – 1 small, chopped
Tomatoes – 2 ripe, chopped
Green chilies – 3
Ginger + Garlic paste – 1 tsp
Coconut (dry or fresh) – 2 tbsp
Poppy seeds (Khus khus) – 2 tbsp
Red chili powder – ½ tsp
Salt – to taste

Method:

• Grind coconut and poppy seeds with water into a smooth paste.
  
• Soak soy flakes in 2-3 cups of hot water until ready to use.
  
• Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan, sauté onions till lightly browned. Add ginger-garlic paste and sauté for a minute.
  
• Add green chilies, tomatoes, coconut paste, cook covered till the tomatoes are tender.
• Drain soy flakes, squeeze out the extra water and add to the tomato mixture along with red chili powder and salt. Sprinkle water if the gravy is too dry.
  

We had our soy masala curry with jowar roti (thanks to Shilpa for the easy jowar roti recipe) and pesarapappu charu. Healthy and delicious meal.

D for Dal Moghlai

This is my entry to Nupur’s A-Z of Indian vegetables series. Dal is the quintessential comfort food for all Indians. Be it the tangy-spicy sambar or plain old tadka dal, no Indian thali is complete without dal. This recipe is from Tarla Dalal’s recipe newsletter. I love my lentils and make sure that I make a big pot of dal (like soup) every weekend that will last at least 2-3 days. That way all I have to worry about during weeknights is making a subzi (curry) and rice.

Ingredients:
Toor dal – ¾ cup
Chana dal – ¼ cup
Bottle gourd (doodhi/ lauki/ sorakaya) – 2 cups, peeled and chopped into big pieces
Tomatoes – 1 cup, chopped
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Onion – ¾ cup, chopped
Garlic – 2 cloves, chopped fine
Ginger – 1 tsp, minced
Green chilies – 5
Salt – to taste

Method:

• Clean, wash and soak the dals for about 30 minutes. Drain.
  
• Add the tomatoes, bottle gourd, turmeric, salt and 3 cups water to the dals and pressure cook till the dals are tender.
  
• Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan, add cumin seeds and when the seeds crackle, add the ginger, garlic, green chilies and onions and sauté till the onions are golden brown in color.
  
• Add the cooked dal and 1 cup water to the onions and bring to a boil.
  

Serve with steaming hot rice for a wholesome meal.