Kobichi Bhaji with chana dal

This is one of my most favourite bhaji (read as bhaaji).  This is one such vegetable available all over the world and at a cheap rate.  It is very versatile also.  It goes well with carrots, peas, onion, tomato, potato, chana dal as well as Moong dal.  Very healthy and I think it is very easily available everywhere.  This is a typical maharashtrian recipe of cabbage.  Almost prepared like a stir-fry.  Chana dal/bengal gram dal in this bhaji gives somewhat nutty taste to this stir-fry.

Ingredients:
4 cups Cabbage chopped finely
1/4 cup Chana dal/Bengal gram dal soaked in water for 1 hour
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder (haldi)
1/4 tsp Asafoetida (Hing)
5-6 Curry leaves
3-4 Green chilies slitted
Salt to taste
2 tbsp Oil
2-3 tbsp Fresh/frozen desiccated coconut to garnish (Optional)
2 tbsp Coriander leaves chopped to garnish

Method:
Wash and chop the cabbage.
Wash and soak the chana dal in water for 1 hour.
After 1 hour drain the excess water and keep the dal aside.

In a pan heat oil and add mustard sand cumin seeds.
Let it crackle. Add the turmeric powder, asafoetida, green chilies, curry leaves and the chana dal.
Saute for 2 minutes.  Add a little bit salt and cover.
Let the dal cook half way.
Now add the chopped cabbage and mix well.  Adjust salt.
Cook the cabbage with lid on for 7- 8 minutes or till soft on medium flame.
Stir in between.  If you feel that the cabbage is sticking to the bottom, then sprinkle some water.
Garnish with coconut and coriander. Serve hot with chapattis or phulkas.

Pani Puri for ICC and my 50th post

Just by hearing the name of pani puri I start drooling.  My elder son & I, both love pani puri.  That's why when I saw Srivalli's Indian Cooking Challenge for this month I decided this will be my 50th post.

Here is the simple recipe of Pani Puri.

Ingredients:

For making Puris

1/2 cup Sooji (Semolina )

1/2 tbsp Maida ( Plain Refined Flour)

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

Salt to taste

Oil for Frying

For Spicy water:

1 1/2 cups Chopped Mint Leaves
1 tbsp Chopped Coriander Leaves
1/3 cup Tamarind
1" Ginger
4-5 Green Chillies
1 tsp Ground Cumin Seed (roasted)

1 1/2 tsp Kala Namak (Black Salt )

Salt to taste

For filling

1 Boiled Potato finely chopped /mashed

Salt to taste
Red chilli.
For Red Tamarind Chutney
1 cup Tamarind
1/2 cup Jaggery
2 tbsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Red chilli powder
1 tsp Dry Roasted cumin powder
1/4 tsp Kali Mirch (Black pepper) powder
2 cloves
2 cups Warm water
1 tsp Oil
Salt to taste

Method:
For Puris:
In a bowl take semolina, plain flour, Cooking Soda, salt, 2 tablespoons of oil and knead well to make a stiff dough, leave it bit stiffer than normal.
Cover it with a wet muslin cloth and let it rest for 15 mins.
Then pinch out very small balls and roll them into small circles.
Remember you will be eating these as whole, so make small circles
Put the rolled out circles back under the muslin cloth while you are rolling the rest and before they can be fried.
Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan, deep fry the puris.
The idea is to puff them and fry them till golden brown.
Take them out and put them on kitchen paper towel, to get rid of the extra oil.
Allow the puris to cool before storing them in an airtight container. Else they will become soggy.
For making spicy water or Pani
Extract pulp from the tamarind.
Add mint leaves, coriander, ginger, chillies and dry roasted cumin seed to the tamarind pulp. Add little water and blend to a smooth paste.
Add salt and black rock salt to taste.
Put it in the fridge to cool down.
Add water as required.
For making Red Tamarind Chutney
Extract the pulp from tamarind.
In a pan dry roast the cumin seeds and the cloves. Pound them into coarse powder.
To the tamarind pulp add jaggery, sugar, red chilli powder, black pepper powder, roasted cumin powder, cloves and salt.
Put the mixture in a pan and heat for 5 minutes on medium heat.
Remove from heat and let it cool down.
This will tend to thicken up, so add warm water if it becomes too thick.
Once it cools, blend the contents in a blender to a smooth paste.
Assembling the Pani Puri
Poke a small hole in the center of the Puri
Add a tsp of mashed boiled potato in the middle of the puri. Add a little of the red tamarind Chutney.
Dip it in the spicy water / pour some spicy water in it.  The idea is to fill the puri with water.
Gulp it down.  It's challenging here, you have to put the puri in mouth without breaking it.
Have fun.

Chickpeas salad or Chana Chaat

This is one of our new favorite these days.  Every body especially DH loves this than the chola actually.  This is very easy you can use the canned chickpeas or you can soak and boil on your own.

Ingredients:

2 cups chana/garbanzo beans/chickpeas soaked overnight/6-8 hours
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
1 raw mango chopped/grated

1 small potato boiled & cubed

1 tsp chaat masala

2 tbsp coriander leaves chopped

1/4 th tsp Red chilli powder

1-2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder(optional)

1-2 green chillies, slitted through 

1 tsp black pepper freshly ground

2 tbsp fresh pomegranate seeds(Optional)

1 tbsp chopped bell pepper (Optional)

Salt

Method:
Pressure cook the soaked chana/garbanzo beans/chickpeas for 2-3 whistles.  Add salt before boiling.  They should be soft but not too soft/mushy.
Drain the chickpeas.  Place in a mixing bowl.  Now add the potato cubes, onions, tomatoes, mango, bell pepper & pomegranate seeds, if using.  Add the chopped coriander leaves and green chilli.
Add the  Salt, chilli powder. roasted cumin powder and pepper powder.  Sprinkle lemon juice.

You can serve this chilled as salad or for evening snack as chaat.

Healthy protein-Soy Cutlets

I wanted to prepare these for a very long time, but every time I used to make something else.  But this time I did it.  They were a big hit in my home both my kids loved and liked them.  Here is the simple recipe I used from the nutrela soy granules box and I made some changes according to my family's liking.  Here is the simple recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cups boiled Nutrela granules

3 medium potatoes boiled

10-12 french beans chopped finely

2 fistfuls of green peas, blanched/boiled

1 carrot cubed and boiled

6 green chillies chopped finely

3 bread slices/ 1/4 th cup of bread crumbs, I used bread crumbs.
1 tsp chaat masala
1 tsp amchur powder
Handful of moong sprouts (Optional)
2 tbsp coriander leaves (Optional)
salt
Oil for deep-frying

Method:

In a mixing bowl, keep the boiled potatoes, peas and carrots, and thinly chopped french beans.

Add the boiled and squeezed soya granules to the same bowl.

Add salt, green chillies, chaat masala, amchur powder, moong sprouts & coriander leaves if using.  

Mash and bind with the bread crumbs or soak the bread slices in water for few seconds and remove from water and squeeze.  Make like dough.

Pinch balls and shape like patties.

Heat oil in a kadai/wok or frying pan, deep fry. 

Serve hot with onion slices & Coriander-mint dip.

South-India's famous breakfast : Sada dosa & chutney

Do you know anybody who doesn't like dosa?  Atleast I don't know.  I can eat N no. of dosas provided they are off the stove and in my plate.  I cannot eat a dosa once it is cold.  The same habit is in my both sons.  Here is my simple recipe of dosa.

Ingredients:

2 Cups short/long grain rice/sona masoori rice, I used zafrani, I got mine from Costco.

1 cup Urid dal/black gram dal

1/4 cup Chana Dal/Bengal gram dal

1/4 tsp Methi seeds/fenugreek seeds

Salt to taste

Oil

Method:

Soak rice, dals and methi seeds together for atleast 4-5 hours.

After 4-5 hours, grind it to coarse consistency.  Pour the batter in a bigger vessel.  Mix with hand.  No spoons please. 

You can add salt at this stage or later while making the dosas.

Let the batter ferment for 8-12 hours depending upon the temperature in your area.  At colder places even 18-20 hours.

Heat the dosa tawa/griddle and pour the batter in the center of the tawa and spread it from inside out.
Drizzle little oil around the corners.
After a minute, flip the dosa and remove from heat after half a minute.
Serve immediately with sambar/chutney/milagai Podi.
I served mine with onion chutney and coconut-coriander chutney.
Refrigerate the remaining batter in an airtight container.

Ras Malai for ICC and Akshaya Tritiya

First of all I want to say sorry to Srivalli for making this so late.  I made Ras Malai for ICC and for Akshaya Tritiya.  That's the reason I am posting it late.  Since I have already posted Rasmalai recipe in my way, I have pasted the same way it was given by Srivalli in Indian Cooking challenge.

Ingredients:

Milk - 3 litres (2 litres for making paneer and 1 litre for making Rasa/Milk syrup.)
Vinegar- 3 tbsps
Water-5 cup's
Sugar- 16 tbsp (8 for Sugar Syrup and 8 for Rasa/Milk Syrup)
Saffron- 8 pieces
Pista-10 finely chopped
Maida flour- 1 tsp
Cardamon-2 (crushed)

Method:
Preparation of Whey Water:
Boil Two Litres of milk and let it cool. Refrigerate the milk for 12 hours. The next day or after 12 hours, remove the thick layer of skin/ paal adai/meegada formed over the milk. Now boil the milk, when the milk boils, add vinegar. wait for a minute or two. the paneer will start floating on top and the whey water will stay on the bottom of the vessel. Now with a muslin or a cotton cloth, filter the paneer and pour 2 cups of water on it, to remove the sourness of vinegar and then tie it well and let it hang on for one hour, till the whey water drops out.
II. Preparation of Paneer:
As we have tied and hanged the paneer in muslin cloth to let out the whey water, wait for an hour and squeeze them well. remove from the cloth and shift to a broad vessel. Now just prepare the paneer, as we knead the dough for chapathi/roti, in the same way knead the paneer, for 5 minutes atleast, till you feel it dont have much moisture content in it. now add a spoon of maida flour to the paneer and make it as small small ball's remember the balls will become double in size after putting it and boiling it in sugar syrup. so make a medium size paneer ball's. with 2 litres of milk you can prepare 12 or 13 paneer ball's.
III. Preparation of Sugar Syrup:
In a wide-bottomed pressure cooker, add three cups of water and eight table spoons of sugar. let it boil. Now when it boils, add the paneer ball's one by one on to it. dont afraid of the ball's getting broken. if you have kneaded the paneer well, it wont get broked. let it get pressure cooked for 10 minutes in slow flame or for 2 whistles.
Now let the steam get out and open the cooker and see the double-sized paneer ball's. slightly press each and evry ball to emit the excess sugar syrup.
IV. Preparation of Milk Syrup/Rasa:
When you are starting to prepare sugar syrup. start making milk syrup/rasa side by side. Have one litre of milk in a wide bottomed vessel and let it boil and get reduced into half of the quantity. add eight table spoons of sugar and mix well. add saffron and crushe cardoman to it and mix well. put the paneer ball's into the rasa/milk syrup. cool it down and refregirate it.
Serve with chopped pistachios on top.

My Ras Malai was really melting in mouth.  The paneer disks were super soft. and breaking, may be I added little less maida.

Happy Mothers Day and Bottal gourd kofta in spinach gravy

Happy Mothers Day!!!!!!

I always buy bottle gourd to make halwa.  But till date I could never make it either it ends in dust bin or it goes into curry/sambar/dal.  But this time, I thought of using it differently.  I thought of making koftas in spinach gravy.  The koftas turn really melt in mouth, and both my sons and dear H enjoyed and ate them without any complain.

Ingredients:
For Koftas:
1 cup bottle gourd peeled and grated
1 cup paneer crumbled/grated
3 tbsp Besan/bengal gram flour
2-3 green chillies
2 tsp coriander leaves
salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

For gravy:
2 bunch Spinach leaves
1 medium onion(Chopped)
1/2 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
1/2 cup Tomato Puree
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
2 tsp Chili powder
1/2 tsp Kitchen king masala
1 tbsp Butter
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp oil

Method:
Wash the bottle guard and pill it.
After peeling it, grate the bottle guard, and squeeze it to remove the water.  Add the curmbled paneer.
Put gram flour in bottle guard along with salt, green chilies and coriander leaves. Mix it well .The mixture should be appropriate for making kofte.  Make golf-ball sized ball and fry the koftas on low flame.
You can adjust the thickness by adding or reducing the gram flour.  Remember not to burn the koftas.

Wash the spinach leaves properly.
In a kadhai, add 1/2 tsp oil, add the spinach leaves and a little salt, stir, and close the lid of the pan.
Remove the wilted spinach on a plate and allow it cool down. Then grind it with ½ spoon of sugar.
Now in a pan heat butter and remaining oil, add ginger garlic paste into it. Fry it for 2 minutes.
Then add onion in this and fry till it turn golden brown color.
Once onion turned brown in color add tomato puree and turmeric powder, chilli powder, Kitchen King masala and salt.  Fry it well till the masala starts leaving oil on the sides.  Now add spinach puree in this.
Keep stirring it properly so it should not get burned.
In a serving plate place the koftas and pour the gravy on top of it.
Serve hot with steamed rice/roti/parathas.