Tag Archives: Recipes

Recipe: Cucumber and Okra (Ladies Finger) Raita

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IMG_6051A couple of days each week, I need to send BB & GG to school with a packed lunch as they have to stay back in school for either CCA or supplementary lessons.

Most days it’s either some sort of stuffed paratha or some sort of rice. So making appropriate accompaniments with that then becomes important.

I made a vegetable pulao recently and was thinking of something to accompany that when I thought of marrying two kinds of raitas to come up with this raita. The Okra or Ladies Finger Raita is a traditional south Indian raita (called pachadi) and we make the Cucumber raita quite often at home. It was surprisingly good and goes very well with any kind of rice or roti.

Cucumber and Okra (Ladies Finger) Raita

IMG_6052Ingredients:

  • 2 large cucumbers
  • 10-15 okra or ladies finger washed and dried thoroughly
  • 2 cups yoghurt, beaten well
  • 2 green chillies
  • 1-inch piece ginger
  • 3-4 tbsps oil
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • Salt to taste
  • Coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

  • Peel and grate the cucumber and salt it lightly and keep aside for a while.
  • Slice the ladies finger as thin as you can and keep aside.
  • Slice the green chillies and ginger finely and keep aside.
  • Heat oil in a pan and when warm, fry the chillies and ginger till they are crisp. Remove and keep on some kitchen paper to remove all excess oil.
  • In the same oil, fry the okra till it becomes brown and crisp.
  • Remove from the pan and put on the kitchen paper to remove excess oil.
  • In a large serving bowl, beat the yoghurt and add salt to taste.
  • Squeeze the grated cucumber with the palms of your hands to remove all excess water and add to the beaten yoghurt.
  • When the fried okra, chilli and ginger are cool, add to the yoghurt cucumber mixture.
  • Heat another dry pan, and add the cumin seeds and let them pop. When the cumin seeds are crisp, add them to the yoghurt mixture.
  • Garnish with coriander leaves and serve cold.

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Recipe: Chawli aka Black-eyed Beans Masala

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Black eye peas, Chawli in Marathi or Lobia in Hindi is a small bean which is used in cooking almost in every part of the country. This is made differently in various parts, but the way I make it, is very similar to how I make Rajma.

Chawli Masala

IMG_5908Ingredients:

  • 1 cup dried black-eyed peas,  soaked in water overnight
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 2 tomatoes, chopped
  • 5-6 cloves of garlic
  • 1-inch piece ginger
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • Salt to taste
  • 1-2 tsp red chilli powder
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 2 tsp garam masala masala
  • Coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

  • Wash the black-eyed peas thoroughly and cook it in a pressure cooker for 4-5 whistles till it becomes soft. You can also cook it without pressure, in a pan, but it will take quite long.
  • Chop the onions and tomatoes and peel the garlic and ginger and chop them into pieces.
  • Heat oil in a pan and when warm put in the cumin seeds. When it starts popping, add the garlic, ginger and stir for a few minutes. Then add the onions and stir and cook till they turn translucent.
  • Add the tomatoes next and a tsp of salt to help the tomatoes start watering. Let the tomatoes cook till they are mushy and well cooked.
  • Switch off the gas and let it cool completely. When cool, blend it till it becomes a smooth puree.
  • In the same pan, pour this puree and let it boil. When it comes to a rolling boil, add the cooked black-eyed beans, chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and garam masala powder. Check for salt and add more if needed.
  • Let this cook well and once the whole mixture is nice and thick, switch off the gas and garnish with coriander leaves
  • Enjoy piping hot Chawli with Cumin (Jeera) rice, Rotis or Nan.

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Recipe: Snake Gourd Dal

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IMG_5918Indian vegetables are a staple in my house, especially when we have done shopping in the Little India district. And Snake Gourd somehow makes it home every time this happens. Normally I make a stir-fry with this vegetable and honestly, even I was bored with that every single time. I decided to search and see if anything else can be made and found people had experimented with dal with this vegetable. So I also decided to make a dal and did a very simple dal with hardly any seasoning. The result was a delicious dal which would go  very well with both rice as well as rotis and flatbreads.

trichosanthes_cucumerina_aka_snake_gourdThis is a common vegetable in India and because it’s long and slim (like a snake, it is called Snake Gourd). The vegetable has many health benefits too, including  its ability to improve the strength of the immune system, reduce fevers, detoxify the body, improve the digestive processes of the body, increase hydration in the body, treat diabetes, boost the strength and quality of the hair, and aid in weight loss. More information on this vegetable on Wikipedia and this site.

Snake Gourd Dal

IMG_5919Ingredients:

  • 2 snake gourds, peeled and chopped into pieces
  • 1 cup chana dal (yellow split chick peas)
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
  • 1 tsp jaggery (or sugar, brown sugar)

For the seasoning:

  • 1 tsp ghee or oil
  • 1.5 tsps cumin seed powder
  • 2 whole red chillies,
  • 3-4 cloves
  • 1 inch stick cinnamon
  • salt to taste
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

  • Wash the dal and let it soak in warm water for 15-20 minutes. Wash the snake
  • In a pressure cooker, add the dal, snake gourd, turmeric powder, a safoetida powder and 2 cups of water and cooker for 3 whistles.
  • If you do not have a pressure cooker, cook this in a large bottom pan on the stove and keep an eye on the water. Keep adding water when it evaporates. The end result should be a mushy dal with the snake gourd completely cooked.
  • Let the pressure subside and when the pressure is fully released, open the cooker and mash the mixture well.
  • In a separate, smaller pan, heat the ghee or oil and add the cumin seeds.
  • When the cumin seeds pop, add in the cloves, cinnamon and red chillies and let it pop. When the red chillies start to brown, remove from the flame and pour over the dal.
  • Close the lid of the dal tightly for 10 minutes to let the dal get infused with the seasoning.
  • Open the lid and check for salt. Add lemon juice, jaggary and garnish with coriander leaves.

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Recipe: Fenugreek and Sweet Corn Pulao

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IMG_5926Now that I am at home these days, I try to cook something different each day, especially since BB & GG are having school holidays.

Today, instead of a dal, rice, vegetable combo, I decided to make some pulao. Digging through the freezer, I found some frozen fenugreek or methi as it’s called in Hindi along with frozen sweetcorn and I had the perfect pulao to make! The slight bitterness of the fenugreek pairs perfectly with the slight sweetness of sweetcorn and this dish comes together in no time!

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Methi Corn Pulao

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup frozen methi (fenugreek)
  • 1.5 cups frozen sweetcorn
  • 1 onion, sliced lengthwise thinly
  • 3 cups basmati rice, soaked in water for a minimum of 20 minutes
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 5 cardamom
  • 5 cloves
  • 10-12 cashewnuts
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 tsp cumin seed powder
  • 1 inch piece ginger, julienned
  • 3-4 green chillies, cut into big pieces
  • 1 tsp ghee or oil
  • salt to taste

Method:

  • Defrost the methi and sweetcorn and keep aside.
  • Slice the onions lengthwise and keep aside.
  • Drain the water from the basmati rice and keep aside.
  • In a pan, warm 1 tsp ghee or oil and when the ghee is warm, add the cumin seeds and let it splutter.
  • When the cumin seeds start popping, add the dry masalas – bay leaves, cloves and cardamom one by one and stir for a few seconds.
  • Next add the ginger and green chillies and stir them for a few seconds.
  • Add the cashewnuts and let it start browning. Make sure you don’t burn the cashewnuts.
  • Next add the onions and let it become translucent.
  • Once the onions have cooked and become translucent, add the defrosted methi and let it cook for a while. The methi will slightly shivel up.
  • At this point, add the sweetcorn and some salt and let it cook. Cook for approximately 5 mins and then add the rice.
  • Stir well and let the spices get incorporated well and switch off the gas.
  • Pour this mixture into a rice cooker and add the water. Check for salt and add more if needed.
  • Depending on your rice cooker, it should take approximately 30-40 minutes to cook. Once it is done, switch off the cooker and let it sit for a while. Then fluff it up using a fork.
  • If you don’t have a rice cooker, you can also cook on the stove. At the point when the rice, methi and corn is cooked, add the water and check for salt. Then keep an eye on the dish as the rice cooks. This should take around 15-20 minutes. If you feel the water is not enough, add a bit more to let the rice cook.

Delicious corn methi pulao is ready! I served it with a mixed vegetable in a yoghurt sauce (recipe coming soon)

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Recipe: Cabbage Salad

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Cabbage Salad 1I’m typing this from Yogyakarta, Indonesia where we are for our semi-annual holiday. We’ve been here for just a day now, but I love what I saw so far!

Before leaving, I wanted to finish off the vegetables in the fridge and saw this quarter head of purple cabbage. I decided to make a salad out of this and it was such a hit, I made it three times this week! I experimented with purple cabbage and green cabbage as well as other vegetables, and each variation was superb! Even S who would not eat a salad if he could was raving about it.

This recipe requires a bit of prep work beforehand, but it is completely worth it!

Cabbage Salad

Cabbage Salad 3Ingredients:

  • 1 half head of cabbage (I used purple cabbage in this photo, but you can also use green cabbage)
  • 2 carrots
  • 2 onions
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • Coriander leaves to garnish

For the dressing

  • 3 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 tbsps lemon juice
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • a pinch of sugar
  • a handful of cashewnuts
  • a handful of almonds
  • 2 tsps white sesame seeds

Cabbage Salad 4Method:

  • Shred the cabbage (you can do this easily using a madolin slicer, otherwise, just shred finely with a knife)
  • Grate the carrots
  • Chop the onions and bell pepper lengthwise in fine strips
  • Chop the cashewnuts and almonds into small pieces or silvers and dry roast them in a pan till crisp. Remove from flame and dry roast the sesame seeds till they are slightly brown and crisp. Let this cool completely.
  • Toss and mix the shredded and chopped vegetables well. Add the coriander leaves and keep aside till it’s time to eat. You can pop it into the fridge till needed.
  • Around 15-20 minutes before it’s time to eat, remove the salad from the fridge and make the dressing.
  • For the dressing, in a small bowl, add all the dressing ingredients – olive oil, lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper and stir well.
  • Pour over the salad and toss well. Add the chopped and roasted nuts and serve.

I also added grated radish to one of my versions, and that too tasted great!

Cabbage Salad 2