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.