Mixed vegetable saag

One of the easiest dishes for me to make is mixed vegetable saag. Reason : it only has 3 basic steps - cook veggies, make masala and mix them together. It is the ideal dish for me on an evening when I have slaved away at work for over 10 hours and just need something quick to have with rice and/or roti. Hence, I present this much adored and very tasty mixed vegetable saag recipe.

Ingredients
Vegetables of your choice - carrots, peas, potatoes, radish, beans etc. (Frozen type also works) Cook and keep these vegetables separately for later use.

For Masala
3 tablespoons coconut milk (or freshly grated coconut)
4-5 cloves
1/2 onion
2 tablespoons roasted chana dal (hurigaDale - puTANi - the one used for coconut chutney)
1 tablespoon cashew
1-2 pieces of cinnamon sticks
2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander leaves
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 small piece of ginger

Other ingredients
2 tablespoon oil
Some curry leaves
Salt to taste
Some jeera seeds (if you prefer it)



Method
1) Blend all the masala ingredients to a fine smooth paste. Adjust the level of water as required so that it has the same feel as a dosa batter. If you want more thickness then add some cashews or some more roasted chana daal.
2) Heat a pan with oil and add the curry leaves into it. Then add the jeera seeds and let the aroma appear.
3) To this add the cooked (and water-ridden) veggies and stir well.
4) After about a minute add the masala paste to the dish and mix well.
5) You can add some more water if you wish to make it thinner in texture and more in quantity.
6) Let the dish come to a boil. Take it off heat and add salt to taste.


That's it! Simple dish for a quick vegetable option. Hope you all try it and like it the same way I do.


Cheers,
SK

Capsicum Curry

I was looking for some ways to kick up capsicum (shimla mirchi or doNNemeNasinakAyee) and do something different with it. Managed to find a good recipe for Capsicum curry so dished it out last night. It was very tasty and went well with the rice and the rotis. So maybe you can try it out sometime too! Here is the result and following it is the recipe.

Ingredients

To grind to a smooth paste
1/4 cup fresh grated coconut or 3 tablespoons coconut milk (whichever you use)
1/2 cup sesame seeds
2 Tbsp coriander seeds
2 Tsp cumin seeds
3 to 4 Dry red chillies
1 cup water (can be adjusted depending upon the thickness of the gravy desired)


Rest of the ingredients
5 medium green/red capsicum
1 Tsp mustard seeds
1/2 Tsp cumin seeds
1 Dry red chilly
1 Medium onion chopped
2 Green chillies
2 Tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
Salt to taste


Method
1) Grind the gravy ingredients to a smooth paste.
2) Cut the peppers into about 1 inch pieces
3) Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan and saute the peppers for about 8 to 10 mins on a medium flame till they are slightly brown along the edges. The peppers become soft and tender, so you know that is your cue.
4) Remove in a bowl and keep aside.
5) Now add the remaining oil in the same pan and heat.Add mustard seeds.When they splatter,add cumin seeds and red chilly.
6) Then add chopped onions and fry till they are slightly brown.
7) Add the gravy paste and salt and cover and cook on medium flame till it bubbles.
8) Then add the sauted peppers.Cover and cook till the peppers are tender.
9) Just before removing from the flame,add lemon juice and stir. This adds a nice "kick" to the dish and makes it a little tangy which is, believe me, a lovely addition.


And that's it! Your spicy/tasty capsicum gravy is ready! You can have this with rice or rotis or both. I hope you get a chance to dish this one out soon.


Cheers,

ShaK

Bread Pakora

Now I am sure many might not find this one as a "great" recipe but considering I am no professional chef, such things are nothing less than a milestone for me. And hence, I thought of sharing it here. Nothing is more relaxing than a nice piping plate of spicy bread pakoras for a rainy or cold evening isn't it? So, I decided to make some using my very popular 'trial and error' method. The result is given below. I hope you too get a chance to try this out and hopefully enjoy it as much as I did!

Ingredients

4-5 slices of bread - cut into small squares.
4 tablespoons of Besan powder (kadale hiTTu)
3 green chillies
1 teaspoon red chilly powder
Coriander leaves chopped fine
Salt to taste



Method


1) Mix the besan with some water along with finely chopped green chillies, red chilly powder and coriander leaves. Make sure the batter isn't too thick but isn't too thin either since it needs to stick to the bread.

2) To this add the salt and mix well until the batter resembles that of a dosa batter.

3) Now immerse the bread pieces into it ensuring that it is properly covered with the batter on both sides.

4) Heat oil in a deep dish pan (you need a deep dish since you are going to drown the pakoras in steaming oil!) and start putting in each of the pakoras one by one into the dish.

5) Deep fry them until they are golden brown, and then remove them onto a paper napkin (or kitchen tissue) so that the excessive oil is absorbed.

6) Thats it! Have it with some tangy sauce or some other chutney, as you wish.


The same recipe can be used to make pakoras of any kind - capsicum, potato etc - so feel free to deep fry your choice and hope the rainy days seem more pleasant thanks to the pakoras! ;)


Cheers,

SK

Bittergourd Curry

Due to popular demand I present my "version" of the much acclaimed Hagalkayi (bittergourd) gojju. This is the way we do it back home, so there is a good chance you do it differently. Also, I am separating the recipe into 2 parts - one, for the preparation of the gojju powder (which is what I use to make mine) and two, the actual gojju. Hope it is easy to follow.

Making the gojju powder

Ingredients

Dry Red chillies about 10 (or as required by your 'spice buds')
Methi Seeds - 2 tablespoons
Turmeric Powder - a pinch
Oil - about 2 teaspoons

Method

Heat the oil in a pan and add small quantities of methi seeds and turmeric to it. Keep stirring and keep adding as the methi seeds start to change color. To this continue adding small red chilli pieces (I am told that one can also replace red chilli pieces with red chilly powder). Make sure all the ingredients are properly sauted. Now, cool this concoction and blend it to a fine powder. The powder has to be very consistent without any chilli or methi pieces available. And that's it! The powder will red or dark red in color which is what you are aiming for. 'Mentya menasu gojjina' powder is ready! And FYI - I have never actually made this powder since mom usually makes a big bottle's worth which I use.



Making the Hagalkayi Gojju

Ingredients

5-6 Bittergourd - finely cleaned off the seeds and cut into small pieces. Some prefer the crescent shape as well which is also fine.
2-3 tablespoons of Rice flour (akki hiTTu)
A string of curry leaves
4 teaspoons sugar (or as required. This can also be replaced by Jaggery)
2 teaspoons tamarind juice
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
Oil to taste


Method

1) Heat the oil in a pan and add mustard seeds to it. Once it starts to crackle, add chopped curry leaves to it. Mix them well.

2) Now, add the bittergourd pieces to this and mix well. Cover and cook until bittergourd is well done. You can check by sticking a fork into it.

3) Now add about 2-3 spoons of the hagalkayi powder (from above) to this and mix for a few seconds. You might want to mix the powder in some water and add so that it doesn't get burnt.

4) Add 2 teaspoons tamarind juice to this and mix well again.

5) Now add about 1-2 cups of water to the dish and mix. This is where I add the sugar and the rice flour so that the gojju is thick and not too bitter.

6) Let this cook on high flame for about 5 minutes. Keep stirring it on occasion to ensure it is mixing well.

7) And that's it! Add salt to taste and lo! Your gojju is ready to be had with rice/roti/chapati ... whatever your choice seems to suggest.

I hope you enjoy trying this time-tested classic which remains my # 1 dish of all times. Or as I like to call it my 'darling dish' ! All the best and do let me know how it turned out.



Cheers,
ShaKri

Gobi Matar Curry

With a tiring week behind me, wanted to try out something different for the quiet Friday night as it silently rains outside. Was looking around and found a nice recipe for tasty Gobi Matar curry. Spent about 25 minutes on it (after the cooking of the veggies were done) and lo! it was ready. So here is the delicious curry I prepared. Hope you get a chance to try it too.

Ingredients
1 cup peas and some cauliflower pieces (boiled and cooked separately)
1 onion
2 tomatoes
1 teaspoon Ginger/Garlic paste
1 teaspoon Kitchen King masala (this one adds a nice 'restaurant like' taste)
1 teaspoon Red chilly powder
1 Green chilli chopped
1 Red chilli chopped
1/2 teaspoon Coriander powder
1 Tablespoon thick yoghurt
A pinch of turmeric
Some chopped coriander leaves
1 tablespoon oil/butter
Salt to taste



Method
1) First boil and keep aside the peas and cauliflower pieces. Make sure they are not too overdone.
2) Heat oil in a deep dish pan and add onions to it. Saute it till it turns brown.
3) Add ginger/garlic paste, green chili, red chilie to this mixture and saute for a few more minutes until the aroma catches on.
4) Now add chopped tomatoes, coriander and all the dry masalas to this mixture. Let it cook on medium flame until tomatoes are completely done.
5) Now take this off the heat and let it cool. In the meantime you can make your rice or roti or whatever else you have planned to have this curry with.
6) Once the mixture is cool, blend it with 1 tablespoon of thick yoghurt to a smooth paste.
7) Now mix the veggies and this paste together with a little water and let the dish simmer for about 5 minutes.
8) Add salt to taste and garnish with remaining coriander leaves. And that's it!



I found that the more yoghurt you add the more "non spicy" it becomes. So make sure you add just enough to keep your horns from going off!



Enjoy!



ShaKri