दम परवल​ (Dum Cooked Pointed Gourd) & Flax Seed Flat Bread | Lunch Combo |

Hi!!

It was about 3yrs back, I was entering a new territory, a new job with new surroundings, new colleagues, new targets and pressures. I used to feel lost at times and my best friend in that hostile situation used to be the library, where I could spend a decent time reading various books, either work related or even others too.

Apart from the personal time that I used to spend in the library, I had to compulsorily use three quarters of an hour on records in the reference section. The reference section had books of all kinds, from literature and history to modern technology. And amongst all these books were a few cookbooks too which I could not touch during my officially allotted time but on other days, I could use them.

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Ghol Bhaaji/ Doddagonni Soppu

 

Today I’m posting a very simple curry straight from Maharashtra. I had tasted this the first time when I had visited my father’s uncle in Nagpur and had completely fallen for it. Ghol is a green vegetable which resembles methi(fenugreek) leaves but are slightly thicker and has no bitterness. It has thick and succulent reddish green stems and the vegetable has a nice earthy flavour. It is called Kulfa in Hindi, Pachiri in Tamil and Purslane or Pigweed in English.

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Dakor na Methi Gota/ Gujarati Style Fenugreek Fritter

Hi!

I  am on a green spree, using my greens in many innovative ways and at the same time I am also deep frying. I know I indulge rarely into frying and the rarity makes it more special. My kids are surely happy as they love fried stuff and with their high metabolic rates they burn those extra calories easily too.

Gota is a famous preparation from Gujarat. It’s a deep fried pakora/ fritter made with gram flour and usually fenugreek. The most famous Gota’s are from Dakor a village in Gujarat. These fritters are crisp and nicely flavored because of Fenugreek leaves, they make an ideal snack for one and all. I loved the taste and relished a plate myself.

Fenugreek leaves have an amazing flavor apart from that this wonder herb is rich in minerals like Potassium, Calcium, and Iron also have good dietary fiber and are abundant in Vitamin C and Vitamin K. 

The Gota’s are a perfect amalgam of health and flavor, to my delight these do not absorb much oil, a snack item surely not to be missed.

Ingredients

a cup and a half of chopped fenugreek leaves

3-4 tbsp chopped coriander

about 3/4 cup gram flour

about half cup urad dal flour (one can omit this and use only gram flour)

1/2 cup semolina

1-1/2 tsp ginger-green chili paste

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tsp whole coriander seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp red chili pwd

1/2 tsp citric acid crystals or 1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp garam masala

2 tsp oil

1/4 tsp soda bicarb or fruit salt

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp crushed peppercorns
oil for frying
Method
Mix all ingredients to make a thick batter and let it stand for 15-20 mins. The milk makes the fritters light, it was my personal choice of using it one can make the batter with water also.
 
Heat oil on a medium low flame and using hand put small portions for deep frying. Fry till golden brown and crisp and remove on a kitchen towel.

Serve hot with green chutney or tomato sauce.

I am sending this preparation to My event ‘ONLY’- Greens hosted by Saraswathi at Sara’s Corner. and to Dish Name Starts With D hosted by Akila. Sending it to my event ‘Only’ Street Foods of The World hosted by Archana of Mad Scientist’s Kitchen.

Crackling Spinach From Mainland China

Hi!

As the name suggests that this preparation is from Mainland China. I was introduced to this recipe by S when he had taken us out for a dinner at Mainland China in Mumbai about five years ago. Out of all the preparations that we tried there, this became an instant favorite. And ever since then, I had always wanted to try this out.

It was hard to believe that the spinach could taste so nice. As the name suggests that this preparation makes a crackling sound on eating. It crackles as it is very crispy so one can also call this preparation as crispy spinach. 

The preparation is very simple and can be an excellent starter for parties as it will surely catch any one’s attention. It needs very few ingredients and can be made very quickly if one has already kept ready washed and dried spinach. 

This preparation is definitely not for calorie conscious people or for people on diet.

I am sending this preparation to My event ‘ONLY’- Greens hosted by Saraswathi at Sara’s Corner.

Ingredients

about 45-50 spinach leaves

1 tbsp chili flakes

1 tbsp roasted sesame seeds

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp sugar

oil for deep frying

salt to taste

Method

Wash the spinach and pat it dry. Take 5-6 leaves at a time and lay them one over the other.

Roll the layered leaves and chop them into fine strips. Repeat the procedure for all the remaining leaves.

Mix corn starch to the leaves and deep fry the spinach in 4-5 batches till crispy and remove it on a kitchen towel to remove the excess oil.

While frying first fry on a high flame and then reduce it to a medium-low to get the perfect crispy texture.

Heat the sesame oil and add chili flakes followed by crispy spinach, salt to taste, sugar and roasted sesame.  Toss the mix gently.

Serve immediately.

Maatavaadi Palya

Hi!

Last few days were not very healthy for me, was not keeping well and my spirits were generally low. I did not feel like reading blogs as my eyes would hurt on trying that. The only thing I opened was my mails and my blog to moderate comments and then shut down my laptop. I would order out food for everyone and generally spend time taking rest and teaching the younger one Mathematics  and Science as he has to appear for his National Olympiads. But prior to falling sick I had bought my first batch of fenugreek greens of this winter and I was surely looking forward to cooking it. I had sorted and washed the leaves then dried and stored in the refrigerator to use them. As I did not cook for a few days so the day I started cooking I wanted to use the leaves before they got spoilt.

This particular version of fenugreek is a big hit in my family and is S’s favorite. We normally eat this with soft rice and saaru/rasam as a combination. It is quick to make, extremely tasty and takes no time to get over. It is a dry curry and should be  cooked with more oil else it tastes very dry. Oil provides it the softness that it can be mixed with plain rice and be eaten.

Ingredients

3 cups of finely chopped fenugreek leaves

5-6 green chilies finely chopped

1 tbsp of urad-chana dal mix

1 tsp mustard seeds

3-4 tbsp oil

5-6 tbsp of gram flour/ besan

salt to taste

Method

Heat oil and mustard followed by urad-chana dal mix.

Once the dals turn golden brown in color add the green chilies and saute for a few seconds.

Add the chopped greens and salt to taste, mix.

Cover and cook till half done. Sprinkle the gram flour and mix completely.

Cover and cook on low flame till cooked completely.

This tastes good either way hot or cold.

Sarson-Aloo ka Saag

Hi.

With the onset of winter one can see the market getting flooded with greens, though this year because of floods there’s no overflow of greens yet but one can see some sight of greens surely. So when my regular veggie vendor asked  me for mustard greens, I nodded happily and picked up a small bunch.

Sarson ka Saag and Makke di roti is one of the most popular searched items  from my space and I can assure you that the recipe is a winner and I have tried to explain the entire procedureit in great detail.  I will surely post another version of the saag later, but today, I post a simple combination of these flavorful greens with potato. This tastes best  again with  makke ki roti but also with plain steamed rice. I normally do  not add tomatoes to these leaves but for a change I used them and was extremely happy with the result, but of course I would not add them to my sarson ka saag. 

Ingredients

a bunch of mustard greens

2 potatoes cubed

1/2 tomato

2 onions chopped

4-5 garlic pods

4-5 green chilies

a piece of ginger

1 tbsp tomato paste

ghee for cooking

some cumin seeds

red chilies for tempering

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 tbsp coriander pwd

a large pinch garam masala (optional)

a pinch of asafetida

Method

Wash the greens and chop finely. Mix 3-4 garlic pods, green chilies and ginger and pressure cook with a cup of water. I was in a hurry so used the pressure cooker method. Best is to blanch the greens and then grind it to keep the green color intact, check out the sarson da saag post for that.

Cool and grind to a paste.

Heat a tbsp of ghee and add the onions and brown them.

Add the chopped tomato and potato. Add salt to taste.

Add the tomato paste and mix.

Add the turmeric and coriander pwd and saute for a few seconds. Cover and cook till potatoes are done.

Once the potatoes are done, mix the mustard greens paste. Add half a cup of water and some garam masala (optional).

Heat another tablespoon of ghee/oil and add cumin seeds, once they crackle add one finely chopped garlic, asafetida and 2 red chilies. Pour this tempering on the curry.

Mix and serve immediately.

Mushroom-methi-matar .. A delectable curry

Hi.

One can confirm from my previous posts that ever since the onset of winter I have concentrated largely on greens. Seasonal produce is what I love to cook with.

When we visit any North Indian restaurant Methi matar malai is usually seen in the menu card and I wanted to play around this combination sans the malai.

I was keen on cooking with Mushroom. Now, S is not a die hard fan of it, he kind of compromises when he  eats them. I definitely ensure to make something interesting with Mushroom so that he can eat them pleasurably.

S loves Methi (fenugreek leaves) in any preparation, that did offer me a good chance to experiment with Mushroom with Fenugreek too as one of the key ingredient.

We all know that the greens reduce largely in volume on cooking, so do the Mushrooms. That’s how the peas came into the picture..err the curry.. They helped to increase the volume of the curry and also  aided in providing more texture.

Any curried vegetable tastes good if the curry/gravy is made to perfection. I strongly believe that making a good curry is an art and I guess all my blogger pals will agree with it.

The addition of perfect blend of spices along with the basic onion-ginger-garlic combination is what I have surely learnt over the years and have been appreciated by many for my curries. At the same time I do not shy away from taking  tips from the experts for the same.

While I was roasting the  masala for this curry my friend M had come to catch up with me. She entered asking what I was making? She then commented that she could smell Methi and when she eventually entered the kitchen, she said she could smell Cinnamon/ Dalchini too.

She quickly picked up from me what all I had added to the gravy and said she was making it for sure.. as it  smelt so good.

In this preparation  since I had replaced the Malai with the Muhrooms from the Methi malai matar combo,  the curry was not rich  but surely it was delectable. It had the nice aroma of Fenugreek and the Mushrooms had absorbed all the flavors and spices very well.

The peas were placed elegantly in this trio. It’s  a perfect side dish for every day cooking and is worth enough to charm your guests. My children loved every bit and I did not see S fussing at all,  in fact I just heard…it’s very nice.

Ingredients

200 gm Mushroom chopped
a large handful of fenugreek/Methi chopped
a cup of peas boiled

To grind together
2 large onions roughly chopped
2 tomatoes
4-5 garlic pods
1/2 inch piece ginger
a small piece cinnamon
2-3 cardamom
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
5  tsp desiccated dry coconut

spices…
1/2 tsp turmeric
2-3 tsp red chili pwd
3 tsp coriander pwd
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cumin pwd

Method

Heat about 6-7 tbsp oil. Fry the chopped fenugreek leaves till crisp and keep aside.

Frying  Methi helps reduce the bitterness to a great extent plus adds a nice texture.

In the same oil add the ground paste and sauté  it till the oil separates.

Now add all the spices except the garam masala and sauté  for  a minute.

Add the mushrooms and salt and cook till done.

Add  the peas and fried Methi and mix properly, check the consistency, if required add a little water.

Just before turning the flame off add the garam masala and mix.

At the end, garnish with some fresh cream and serve with Naan or Paratha.

Baked Fusilli in Marinara and Healthy-Spinachy Bechamel Sauce

Hi friends.

The word Italian brings in the thought of Pizza, pasta, risotto, wine….and Cheese to my mind. Ritu Dalmia who is a famous Italian Chef and her show Italian Khana is never complete without the description of the famous Italian wines. Now I am surely not a person who has any knowledge and inclination for wine but I surely have an interest for the cuisine so I do watch the show for the food and the humour.

Today I take you to the world of baking with a very tasty and healthy Italian recipe. Italian cuisine has become very popular amongst the young and the old so how can my family be spared. We were planning to enjoy an Italian buffet in a place called Fresco but our plans have got delayed and postponed. I had not baked for a while and the upcoming baker in me was asking me to bake and I surely wanted to cook Italian for my elder one as he is quite fond of Italian cuisine. So one of these days I made this recipe to please everyone and the baker in me.

The journey of cooking this was satisfying as the baked dish surely smelled good. My elder one who kept asking me questions through out his eating…which sauce is this, what have you put in that, which cheese have you put in that? The not so confident me kept answering his questions and then at the end I asked him, why are you asking me so many questions? It’s very nice Mummy, that’s why,  is what I heard. So I was all collar’s up at the end!!!!

Now that I have boasted so much about the recipe and myself let me tell you the ingredients and the method..

Ingredients

2 cups boiled Fusilli (the screw shaped pasta, I used made Durum wheat pasta)

100 gm grated cheese

for Marinara sauce……

1 large onion chopped

3 garlic pods

1/2 inch piece ginger

2 tomatoes chopped

5-6 tbsp tomato puree

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp freshly crushed pepper

1/2 tsp chili flakes

salt to taste

evoo for cooking

for spinachy- bechamel sauce (white sauce)…

25 leaves of spinach blanched

7-8 spoons of whole wheat flour

about a cup of milk

1/2 cup of water

salt to taste

freshly crushed pepper

4 tbsp home made butter

Method

Boil the Fusilli in 6-7 cups of water with some salt and a few drops of oil.

For the Marinara sauce..

First take the onions in the pan and then pour EVOO over it, this avoids overheating of the oil and it losing it’s valuable properties. Saute the onions and add crushed or finely chopped ginger-garlic. Cook till the raw smell disappears.

Now add the tomatoes, salt and sugar.

Once the tomatoes are cooked add the tomato puree and the herbs. Mix and switch off the flame.

 For Spinachy- Bechamel sauce

In a pan take the butter and add the wheat flour. Roast for a minute but do not let the colour change. Mix the water and milk and add this to the wheat flour stirring continuously so that no lumps are formed. This process has to be done fast so I could not take the pics. Unlike the white sauce made with APF this sauce does not thicken a lot on cooling so one must keep that in mind while making the sauce and checking it’s consistency. Season with salt and black pepper.

Blanch the spinach leaves.

Grind the leaves and add it in the bechamel sauce.


Now we start the layering.
Grease a baking dish. Spread the first layer ..that’s the marinara sauce.

Above the marinara sauce spread the second layer..that’s of fusilli.

Now comes the third layer …spinachy white sauce/ spinachy bechamel sauce.

Finally the cheese..spread the layer of processed cheese or cheese of your choice.

Bake the dish at 200C for about 15 mins or till the top layer melts.




Sending this healthy and tasty preparation to Arundhuti’s Gourmet affair as this was made and served with loads of love to my family & to CFK-Creative food for picky fussy eaters hosted by Sara’s corner and the brainchild of Sharmi, as I found this a very healthy way of adding spinach and other veggies to their diet.

Winter Special- Makke Di Roti Aur Sarson da Saag (Corn Meal Bread and Mustard Leaf Curry)

Hello!

When we say winter the first thought of  food that comes to any ones mind here in North India is surely Makke di Roti and Sarson da Saag. Punjabis love to eat this and it frequents their kitchen quite regularly in this season.

Traditionally in villages it is made on ‘chulha’ which adds a different flavor and takes the recipe to another level which surely can not be achieved on a gas stove, but living in an apartment Chulha can not be thought of…

Talking about Mustard leaf, it is a member of the cruciferous vegetable family. It shares the same cancer-preventing benefits of broccoli, cabbage and kale. Mustard is a pungent winter vegetable, abundantly available in this season. It contains large amounts of beta carotene and vitamin C that are important antioxidants. Mustard greens are also a source of calcium that can be important to lactose intolerant individuals. Mustard greens also contain a significant amount of iron.

Mustard greens can be eaten raw or cooked. The whole plant can be cut at once or individual outer leaves can be picked for a cut-and-come-again harvest. The young leaves, four to five inches long , are mild-flavored and can be eaten raw in salads. The older leaves taste better when prepared as cooked greens.

Makke di Roti can be made in various variations…like the plain, methi (fenugreek) and mooli (radish) and can be eaten with green chutney and butter also.

Ingredients For Sarson Ka Saag

5 cups chopped Mustard greens

1-1/2 cups chopped Spinach Leaves

2 onions chopped

5-6 garlic pods

1-1/2” ginger piece

8-10 green chilies chopped (check the spiciness)

2-1/2 tbsp corn meal

2 tsp coriander pwd

1 tsp red chili pwd (optional)

2-3 dry red chilies

clarified butter for cooking

Method

Wash the greens with plenty of water to remove the dirt and soil and then chop finely.

Chop finely the ginger, garlic, onion and green chilies.

Take a deep pan and take 7-8 cups of water in it, put some salt. Once the water starts boiling first add the mustard greens let it cook for a minute and then add the spinach and cook for another minute. Remove the greens and put them immediately in cold water, this stops further cooking of the greens and keeps the green colour intact. Another precaution that should be taken is never close the vessel in which the greens are either boiled or cooked.

Grind the greens.

Heat 5-6 tbsp of ghee in a pan. Add chopped onions and saute, when it turns translucent add ginger-garlic and saute for a minute and then add green chilies. Add salt to taste and coriander powder, saute till the onions are nicely brown in colour now add the corn meal and let the meal get nicely roasted for a few minutes  till a nice aroma is produced. The corn meal acts as a binder.

Now add the green leaf paste, mix thoroughly and bring it to a boil. Adjust the consistency by adding some water.


Heat a spoon of ghee in a separate small pan and add dry chilies and red chili pwd. Pour the baghar immediately on the saag.

Serve hot with some home made butter on top.



Ingredients For Makke di Roti
2 cups Corn meal
1/2 cup grated radish
2 green chilies chopped
salt to taste
hot water for kneading the dough
Method

As I have explained earlier that this roti can be made in various variations. Here I am making with radish. Take  the cornmeal in a large plate, add radish, green chilies and salt to taste and mix thoroughly. The radish releases it’s water. Now add hot water (hot enough that your hands can handle) and make a dough. Every time we start making the roti take a small portion of the dough (small orange size) and knead it again properly. This helps in making soft rotis with smooth edges.

Traditionally the roti is made using hands and that surely needs expertise, I make in a simpler way by patting  and moving it using flour and this method can be further simplified by patting it on a plastic sheet and then lifting the plastic sheet away from the roti. This method is good for beginners.

1.
2.
After lifting the roti put it on a hot tava/girdle and cook from both the sides and then put a spoon of ghee and shallow fry the roti.

Cut it into quarter pieces and serve it with the saag along with some jaggery, radish, a piece of lemon and green chili.

Here’s how the platter looks like

Sending this to Monthly Mingle:Winter fruits and vegetables hosted by Cook like a bong and started by Meeta.