Phool Makhani Masala

Many have asked me about Phool Makhana, and they are basically puffed lotus seeds. I will try to take a picture of Phool makhana and post to the site in a day or two. My roommate (Punjabi but from Hyd) used to make a variety of dishes using this. You can even make Kheer with these. It somehow stuck me at the last minute and I thought why not cook this for RCI-Punjab.

This preparation takes sometime but not like other masala curries.

You need..

2 cups of phool makhana

1 large onion, chopped

2 medium tomato, chopped

1 cup yogurt

1/4 cup poppy seeds/khus Khus, roasted

1/2 cup coconut

2 or 3 green chillies, sliced

2 tsp ginger garlic paste

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp garam masala

a pinch of turmeric

salt to taste

coriander leaves, chopped

oil for deep frying

3 tbsp oil for the gravy

1. Heat oil and deep fry Phool Makhana until light brown.


2. Heat 3 tsbp oil and fry onions until brown. Add ginger garlic paste, green chillies and fry for one more minute.


3. Add tomatoes, turmeric, red chilli powder and cook for 3-4 minutes.


4. In the mean while, blend poppy seeds and coconut for the gravy.


5. Add this gravy to the onion mixture and mix.


6. Lower the heat and add yogurt, garam masala and cook for 5-10 minutes. Or until you see oil floating on the sides and on the top.


7. Add phool makhana , salt and cook for 3-4 minuts. Garnish with cilantro at the end.
   

Serve with Pulao.

Corn and Palak Rice

This is a simple dish that anyone can make. I never liked the bland taste of Palak except in Palak Paneer. And with this dish, the flavor of palak came out and the taste was awesome. Enjoy.


Fry onions in oil, add little shahjeera, mint, ginger garlic paste and green chillies. Add 2 cups of spinach and 1/2 cup of corn and fry for somemore time. Add 1 1/2 cup basmati rice and mix for a minute. Add 3 cups of water and cook until done.
You can even add bay leaves, cardammon and cloves to it while frying.

Evelyn's Favorite Pasta...tried at home

EVELYN'S FAVORITE PASTA Penne Tossed with Broccoli, Oven-Dried Tomato, Roasted Eggplant, Peppers, Artichoke, Kalamata Olives, Basil, Garlic, Pine Nuts and Parmesan Cheese

We went to Cheesecake Factory for the first time, couple of weeks ago. We were actually giving farewell to a friend of ours who was leaving to India for good. We decided to go to Thai first but one of our friends mentioned that they use Fish oil in cooking. And being complete vegetarians, this was alarming. I called up all the Thai restaurants I ate in and around RTP and everyone said the same thing “yes, we use fish oil, but if you don’t want it, please let us know”. It was our fault that we should have asked but who knew they would use that…so, we cancelled our plan to Thai and went to Cheesecake Factory instead. We thought there will be less number of vegetarian dishes or none and went with the idea of eating a salad.

We ordered Eggplant Burger, Cheese Quesadilla and this pasta. We loved them all and thought of going there again but it never worked out . So I made this at home by bringing all the necessary ingredients. The only difference was that they added roasted brinjal and I didn’t. But, still the taste was close. I omitted Artichoke, Kalamata Olives, Basil and Parmesan Cheese and instead of pine nuts, I added walnuts.

You need…

2 cups of veggies-broccoli, oven-dried tomatoes, red and yellow peppers, eggplant, all chopped
1 cup of penne pasta
4 or 5 tbsp olive oil
About 5 or 6 walnuts
2 or 3 garlic cloves.
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
Salt to taste

1. Heat oil in a pan, add cloves and fry them till light brown. Add a little pepper to it while cloves are frying.
2. Add all the veggies and stir fry them.
3. In the mean while, cook penne pasta till al-dente.
4. Drain pasta and add to the veggies and mix.
5. Add Italian seasoning, walnuts and salt and mix everything for 1-2 minutes and remove.
   

Serve hot.

Palak & Cottage Cheese Burji

Follow the same procedure as Cottage Cheese Burji but add Palak after adding onions.

Cottage Cheese Bhurji

Cottage Cheese has good amount of protein, so I am using that at least once in a day these days. I guess you will see more recipes of this in the coming days.

Instead of Paneer for the bhurji, I added Cottage Cheese to see how that tastes, this tasted similar but a little sour as I have used 2% fat. Next time I will try it with full fat, may be it will taste little sweeter. But overall result, I liked it, I ate this in the restaurants, they add fresh lime juice to it once it is done and without adding that I got the sour taste naturally.

You need…

1 cup of cottage cheese
1 medium, onion, chopped
2 roma tomatoes, chopped into big chunks. *
2 green chillies, chopped
½ tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
2 tbsp oil.
½ tsp garam masala (optional)
A pinch of turmeric
salt to taste
coriander for garnishing

1. Heat oil in a pan, add onions and fry for 2 minutes. Do not brown them, just cook them till tender.
2. Add ginger-garlic paste and fry for a minute.
3. Add tomato chunks, green chillies, and cook them till done for 1 or 2 minutes.
4. Add turmeric, salt, chilli powder, garam masala and mix.
5. Reduce flame and add cottage cheese, garam masala and let it cook for 3-4 minutes.
6. Garnish with coriander.
   

Serve hot with chapattis.

* Do not use juicy tomatoes as the curry will become soggy and mushy and if you want the gravy, the milk from the cottage cheese is just enough for that.

Kottu Paratha

Kottu Paratha comes from Trichi in Tamilnadu. We have a South Indian Restaurant, Tower India Restaurant at a walking distance from my place and they make such excellent South Indian food, basically that guy is from Madurai (Temple town) and he makes sure that we get authentic food. I went there millions of times and I still love going there. The best part about them is the food tastes completely home made, not much oily but very very tasty.

We ate Kottu Paratha at this place for the first time and kept eating every time we went there. My husband used to order this and I order Gunpowder Masala Dosa and their buffet is equally good with a variety of items.

I tried Kottu Paratha last year at home and it came out exactly the same way they make at the restaurant. Since then, I stopped ordering there and I make this at home whenever I make chapatis. I keep some 4-5 chapatis aside to make this next day for lunch.

You need...

4-5 medium sized chapatis, shredded
1 medium onion, chopped
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 medium beefsteak tomato, chopped
2 red chillies
2 green chillies, chopped
1 tsp jeera
1/2 tsp rai
1 tsp garam masala
cilantro for garnishing
salt to taste
a pinch of turmeric

1. Heat oil in cooking pan, add cumin and rai and wait until they splutter.
2. Add red chillies, green chilies, onion and fry until brown.
3. Add tomatoes and keep mixing until tomotoes are cooked.
4. Add turmeric, salt and garam masala.
5. Add shredded chapati and mix again for 2-3 minutes until the masala is all coated to chapati pieces.
6. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with Raita.

I make variations whenever I make this recipe. I add some boiled Chana or Chole, sometimes I add Paneer and this time I added Govar/Gokarkaya/Cluster Beans. In case you plan to add beans, boil them and add them before adding tomatoes and fry them with onions for sometime.

Stuffed Bhindi

Stuffed okra is one of my favorites and I would like to eat that along with plain dal especially on a rainy day. I got fresh Okra from the local farmer’s market for $4 a bucket and I am planning to make variety of recipes using the remaining ones.

You need…

20 okras
4 tbsp besan/gram flour
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp jeera powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
½ tsp amchur powder
salt to taste
a pinch of turmeric

1. Slit okras vertically and keep aside. *
2. Roast besan until the raw smell goes. This step is optional, you can make it without roasting too.
3. Mix all powders together and with ginger garlic paste.
4. Fill this powder carefully with spoon in the slits that you made for okra.
5. Shallow fry them in oil and remove when brown and cooked.
   

* You can even roast okras before filling it with powder for crispiness.

Interesting facts:

Okra leaves may be cooked in a similar manner as the greens of

beets or dandelions. The leaves are also eaten raw in salads. Okra seeds may be roasted and ground to form a non-caffeinated substitute for coffee.

Nutrition Info: Okra is a rich source of many nutrients, including fiber, vitamin B6 and folic acid.

1. The superior fiber found in okra helps to stabilize blood sugar as it curbs the rate at which sugar is absorbed from the intestinal tract.
2. Okra's mucilage not only binds cholesterol but bile acid carrying toxins dumped into it by the filtering liver. But it doesn't stop there...
3. Many alternative health practitioners believe all disease begins in the colon. The okra fiber, absorbing water and ensuring bulk in stools, helps prevent and improve constipation. Fiber in general is helpful for this but okra is one of the best, along with ground flax seed and psyllium. Unlike harsh wheat bran, which can irritate or injure the intestinal tract, okra's mucilage soothes, and okra facilitates elimination more comfortably by its slippery characteristic many people abhor. In other words, this incredibly valuable vegetable not only binds excess cholesterol and toxins (in bile acids) which cause numerous health problems if not evacuated, but then assures easy passage out of the body of same. Unlike some prescription and over-the-counter drugs for this, the veggie is completely non-toxic, non-habit forming (except for the many who greatly enjoy eating it), has no adverse side effects, is full of nutrients, and is economically within reach of most.
4. Further contributing to the health of the intestinal tract, okra fiber (as well as flax and psyllium) has no equal among fibers for feeding the good bacteria (probiotics).
5. To retain most of okra's nutrients and self-digesting enzymes, it should be cooked as little as possible, e.g. with low heat or lightly steamed. Some eat it raw. However, if one is going to fry it (and it is undeniably delicious prepared that way when rolled in cornmeal and salt), only extra virgin olive oil, or UNREFINED coconut butter is recommended (this is NOT the unhealthy partially hydrogenated product found in processed foods.) Organic ghee used by gourmet chefs, has the oil and flavor of butter without the solids, is also excellent for frying okra (does not burn like butter),
   
   Nutrition Info :

http://www.physiology.wisc.edu/ravi/okra/

1. Interesting facts: wikipedia.org
   

Pesara Pappu

This lentil/dal is also known with other names like split yellow moong dal and green gram dal (when whole). It has soft and subtle taste when lightly roasted and cooked. This dish is a great time saver and I make this mostly when I have less time in hand to make a good meal. This is cooked in minutes and is easily digestible unlike toor dal. This one is loaded with good amount of nutrients and a good source of protein.

You need..

1 cup of split yellow pesara pappu, lightly roasted *
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tomato, chopped
1 tsp red chilli powder
3 green chillies
2 cups water
salt to taste
a pinch of turmeric
cilantro for garnishing

For seasoning:

1 or 2 tbsp oil
1 tsp jeera
½ tsp mustard/rai
2 or 3 red chillies crushed
or 3 garlic cloves whole (optional)
Few curry leaves

1. Add roasted dal, ginger garlic paste, a tsp of oil, turmeric, salt, green chillies, tomato, water and pressure cook everything until 1 or 2 whistles. Mash the dal with the back of the spoon if you want it soft or leave it if you want grainy.
2. For seasoning, heat a tbsp oil in a frying pan, add jeera, cumin, red chillies, garlic cloves, curry leaves and fry until they turn brown.
3. Add the seasoning to the dal and garnish with cilantro.

Serve with stuffed okra as a side dish, recipe coming next…
* Roast moong dal on a pan until light brown.

Info on Moong Dal:

Without skins

With their skins removed, mung beans are light yellow in color. They are made into mung bean paste by de-hulling, cooking, and pulverizing the beans to the consistency of a dry paste. The paste is sweetened and is similar in texture to red bean paste though the smell is slightly more bean-like. In several Asian countries, de-hulled mung beans and mung bean paste are made into ice creams or frozen ice pops and are very popular dessert items. In Taiwan, mung bean paste is a common filling for moon cakes.

Dehulled mung beans can also be used in a similar fashion as whole beans for the purpose of making sweet soups. Mung beans in some regional cuisines of India are stripped of their outer coats to make mung dal. In other regions of India such as Andhra Pradesh, a delicious vegetable preparation is made using fresh grated coconut, green chillies, mung and typical South Indian spices - asafoetida, turmeric, ginger, mustard seeds, urad lentil. Many Indians also eat mung beans the first thing in the morning as it provides high quality protein in a raw form that is rare in most Indian regional cuisines. They are widely consumed by Keralites along with kanji (rice gruel).

In India the mung beans are also consumed as a snack. The dried mung beans are soaked in water, then partly dried to a dry matter content of approx. 42% before and then deep-fried in hot oil. The frying time varies between 60 and 90 seconds. The fat content of this snack is around 20%. This snack is traditionally prepared at home and is now also available from industrial producers.

Source: Wikipedia

Fiesta Spaghetti

Tasty, wholesome and an exciting recipe to make. Added some green chillies and red chilli powder for the Indian taste buds. I imagined it one way but it was way different when done. The kitchen was filled with such fantastic smell, Ravi kept asking me to switch on the fan when the fan was already switched on. Especialy when you combine onion, garlic and black pepper, the taste buds start dancing for some exotic food. But, I had to omit pepper tonight for the sake of adding green chillies. And green chillies in fact made complete justice to the dish. This is loved so very much at home that I guess I would be making this again and again.

I found the recipe on the back of the whole wheat spaghetti packet but I changed the recipe to suit our taste buds.

Try this and you will love it for sure.

You need...

2 bowls of spaghetti
1 cup frozen zucchni and squash (fresh can be done, I had some in the freezer)
1 small onion, chopped
1 large beefsteak tomato (the one that oozes out more juice)
1 cup yellow and red peppers, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tsp italian seasoning or dried herbs
3 green chillies
parmesan cheese (optional)
salt to taste

1. Cook spaghetti according to the package directions.
2. Heat oil in a pan, saute onion, garlic and green chillies.
3. Add the veggies, zucchini, squash and peppers. Cook for 5 mins or until veggies are tender. Keep stirring in between to avoid burning.
4. Add tomatoes, chilli powder, salt and dried herbs. Cook for 2-3 mins stirring in between.
5. Add spaghetti and simmer uncovered for 5-10 mins.

Serve hot by sprinkling parmesan cheese on the top.

Tip: Sanjeev Kapoor says: add more salt while boiling pasta, otherwise no matter how much you add while cooking, pasta remains bland.

Masoor Dal Soup

Weather has been very unusual at this time of the year. There were scattered thunderstorms in the evening and rain all the night for the last two days. But, it was very hot all afternoon. Then we both craved to eat something hot, and something filling. I thought of making some soup to go with the bread that has been lying in the refrigerator from long.

I tried with Masoor Dal/Red gram this time and improvised it to make it better. I also added Cottage Cheese to this recipe to get that creamy and milky taste.

You need…

2 cups Masoor dal/Red gram dal
1 medium onion, chopped into big chunks
1 big tomato
½ cup cottage cheese
1 tsp chilli powder
½ tsp cumin powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
½ tsp black pepper powder
2 tbsp shredded coconut or coconut milk
a pinch of turmeric
salt to taste
coriander for garnishing

1. Put tomato and onion in a bowl, add some water and microwave it for 3 mins. Check in between as tomato splits all over the microwave if kept for a long time.
2. Boil the dal with enough water till al-dente. Don’t make them too soft.
3. Remove outer skin from tomato and blend onion, tomato and half of cooked dal.
4. Add the blended mixture to the dal and continue boiling.
5. Add spices like bay leaf, cumin, coriander, pepper, red chilli powder, turmeric and salt. Also add coconut at this point.
6. Finally add cottage cheese and boil for 5 mins or until you get the thickness you desire.
   

Remove bay leaf and serve hot. I served with whole wheat garlic bread. I made garlic spread while the soup was boiling. I also added a piece of garlic to the soup for some garlicky taste.

To make Garlic Spread:

Take an oven safe bowl, put garlic pods with butter or olive oil. Add some Italian seasoning or all dried herbs and keep the bowl covered tightly in the toaster oven for 5-10 mins. Crush the garlic and mix. Apply to the bread before serving.

PS: this is my own version of soup and you can improvise it the way you want.

Veggie Murmure Stirfry

All last week my food mainly consisted of carbs and fats with very less fruits and somedays with no fruits at all. I was badly in need of some nutritious vegetables and I came up with this one. Didn't want to add rice to it but added a cup of murmure (puffed rice) and this was quite crunchy and tasty. And a cup of orange juice with this bowl of vegetables made me full.

You need...

2 cups of frozen mixed vegetables (add as many veggies as you like)
1 cup murmure/puffed rice (put these in the colander, sprinkle some water and remove)
1/2 onion, chopped
1 roma tomato, chopped into big chunks
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp sugar (optional)
1 tsp of lemon juice
salt to taste
sev and cilantro for garnishing

1. Heat oil in a pan. Fry onions for a minute.
2. Add veggies and stir fry for 3-4 mins.
3. Add tomato chunks and stiry fry for another minute.
4. Add tumeric, chilli powder, garam masala and mix.
5. Add murmure, salt and sugar and cook everything for 2 mins. Add some lemon juice to it and remove.
6. Sprinkle both sev and cilantro and serve hot.

Kaju Capsicum

These days my younger sister in India is cooking some special dishes everyday in the evening. And she in turn is sending me the recipes of those dishes that she tried. This is one of the her recipes that I tried and I must say it turned out excellent. It was like a feast for us on July 4th with both kaju capscicum and bagara annam.

You need...

3 capcicums/green peppers, cut into ribbon shapes
2 medium onions, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1 cup kaju/cashews
1/2 tbsp cumin powder
1/2 tbsp coriander powder
1 tbsp cumin
2 cups yogurt, beaten
1/2 cup coconut
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
4 tbsp oil
a pinch of turmeric
salt to taste
cilantro for garnishing

1. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan and roast onions, tomatoes. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute. Remove and blend 3/4th of this mixture along with half cup kaju/cashew.
2. Heat 2 tbsp oil in the same pan again and add cumin and fry for a minute.
3. Add capsicum and fry until it is cooked. Add the remaining 1/4th onion mixture. To reduce the time in cooking capcisum here, you can cook that in the microwave for 5 mins after chopping.
4. After capsicum is cooked, add the blended gravy, red chilli powder, turmeric, cumin and coriander powder, remaining half cup kaju/cashew and mix everything for a minute.
5. Add yogurt and cook for 10-15 mins under reduced flame. Keep mixing in between.
6. Add salt and cilantro at the end.

Serve hot with either Rice or Chapathi.