Alu/Gobhi Mutter - Gravy

My only excuse for yet another potato based recipe is VJ. He does NOT eat any other vegetables and it's been quite a task for me to convince him to try. It's a lost battle for the past 27 years but I have not given up hope. And so hasn't he 'cause he thinks that this recipe is a testament of the fact that he has changed my ways. Total BS! But to be fair, this is a simple and easy recipe on hectic weekdays when we have a quiz, a paper, case-studies...the whole enchilada on one school day.

But this recipe was originally meant for Gobhi Mutter which incidentally I love and VJ absolutely hates (he says cauliflower stinks). So you can make this with either vegetable you want. I've tried it both ways and its good. Although for the gobhi mutter, I saute the gobhi with a little oil to remove excess moisture. Otherwise the curry tends to get watery over the days as the gobhi leaves water when stored.

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 6 or 8 medium sized ones

Green peas - 1 cup

Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tsp

Green chillies - 4 spicy hot

Tomato - one medium sized, pureed in a blender

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

Amchur powder (dried mango powder) - 1 tsp

Garam Masala powder - 1 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Water as needed

Method:

1. Boil the potatoes. Cool, peel and cut into cubes.

2. Wash the peas in running hot water and soak them in hot water for about 15 minutes. If you are using fresh peas, cook them in water and a pinch of turmeric. The turmeric helps to keep the green color of the peas.

3. Slit the green chillies. Add the oil in a think bottomed vessel and splutter jeera in it. Add the ginger-garlic paste and the green chillies. Fry for 1 minute until the raw smell of the ginger-garlic paste fades away.

4. Move the vessel to a cold stove, add all the masalas and blend well. Move vessel back to the hot stove and immediately add the tomato puree. Do NOT add any water at this stage.

5. Keep the stove on MEDIUM-LOW and cook the tomato puree until oil separates. After that add 1/2 to 1 cup water based on how much gravy you desire in the curry.

6. Add the peas and potatoes, salt as needed and taste to make sure that all the seasoning is right. Mix well and add more water if needed at this stage.

7. Cover and cook on LOW or MED-LOW for 20 minutes. Make sure there is enough water to let it cook for this long. Otherwise you will end up burning the curry.

8. Another variation is to just toss in the peas and potatoes into the cooked tomato paste puree so that they are lightly coated. This would give a relatively dry version of the same dish.

Source:

Adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe here:

http://sanjeevkapoor.com/gobhi-matar.aspx

Pics to follow soon once I get back home! :)

Updated finally with pics!

Tonight's dinner!

1 amazing rice + 1 amazing curry = An absolutely amazing weekend dinner :) Thank you Ansh!

P.S. I added a pinch of turmeric powder, cashewnuts & raisins to the rice.

Mashed Potatoes - Desi Style

I love potatoes. Period.

But thanks to my genetic makeup (I can pile on the pounds with ease!) and the added high carb content of potatoes, I make an effort to avoid them as much as I can. I even have a rule that helps me stay in control: if I can remember the restaurant, place, month and date of the last time I had them, then it's too early to eat potatoes again. Over the years I've extended this rule to anything and everything from brownies to cheese cake to apple pie to pizza etc. It works well for me and my eating binges have considerably been in check. So far at least.

My potato craving set in quite recently when I sprained my ankle and could not stand long enough to cook anything. So I ended up buying a 2 pound bag of potatoes. Now this was way back (on May 31 to be exact) and I used up almost half of it to make oven-roasted potatoes. After that, although I was sufficiently recovered, I traveled all over Europe for 3 weeks and had no further opportunity/need to cook. Last week, after a particularly long day at work, I pulled a muscle in the same ankle once again and had to rest at home. So I re-visited the old bag of potatoes and decided to ignore the rules for once. Another reason was the amazing mashed potatoes with button mushrooms and zucchini stir fry that I had in Paris the weekend before at "L'Autour d'un Verre" on rue de Trévise. Hands-down, the best mashed potatoes I've ever had. Which of course was expected I guess given that I was in France.

So all of these factors combined led me to experiment with mashed potatoes. I looked up recipes online and found out that mashed potatoes is quite a lot of work and called for many ingredients that I was missing. I decided to just go with my guts and experiment a little.

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 8, medium size

Garlic - 2 to 4 cloves depending on size

Ginger - 2 inch piece

Butter - 2 to 3 tbsp

Chaat masala powder - 3 tsp

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash the potatoes and cook them (whole, with skin) with water in a big vessel. About 20 minutes on high. Check with a fork or knife to see if its done. Alternatively, cooking them in a pressure cooker would also work (2 whistles).

2. Drain, peel and mash well until it is smooth without any lumps. You can also add a little water/milk to make the consistency right.

2. Chop the garlic and ginger into small pieces. Heat butter in the vessel and fry the garlic and ginger until they are well browned.

4. Add the mashed potatoes and mix well. Now add the remaining butter and blend it into the potatoes. You can also add water/milk to make the consistency right at this step.

5. Now add the chaat masala and salt. Taste it and add more as needed. Can be garnished with finely chopped coriander leaves if needed.

Alternatively, you can also mix the salt and masalas to the potatoes while mashing them and top it with the fried garlic and ginger and then baking for about 15 minutes in the oven at 250 F would also be a good twist. Experiment away! :)

Tastes real good eaten with vegetable stir fry (I personally prefer zucchini, button mushrooms and spring onions). But for lazy days, it tastes amazing with just rice or roti. Believe me!

Source:

Basics of the recipe inspired from this one on Food Network

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/neelys/roasted-garlic-mashed-potatoes-recipe/index.html

Handi Paneer

This is another old recipe that I remember when Amul Paneer had been newly launched in India. It took awhile for it to reach my small city down south. Those were the days when finding things like paneer in Pondichery was difficult and I had to bug my dad to take me all the way into town to buy it from the small store near Manakula Vinayagar temple. I forget the name of the store though. They were one of those stores where you could buy cube cheese, tomato puree and some of those off-beat stuff which were difficult to even explain to the small store around the street corner.

So anyways, this was long ago before I learnt how to make paneer at home. I noticed the recipe behind the packet and decided to follow it to the T. One, it did not call for too many ingredients and two, I had all of them at home. There was no need to bug my dad to take me shopping again.

I bought some paneer from the Indian Store last Diwali and VJ wanted to eat something really spicy. I had a couple of green bell peppers at home and decided to tweak the recipe a bit. Surprisingly I found the recipe online on the Amul website. I make it quite often when we have paneer at home and it's also become quite a favorite with VJ.

Ingredients:

Paneer - 250 gms

Green bell peppers - 2 to 3

Onions - 3 medium size

Tomato - 1 medium size

Green chillies - 2 to 3 depending on how spicy they are

Ginger - 1 inch piece cut into strips

Bay Leaf - 1 medium size

Curd - 1/2 cup

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp

Pepper powder - 1 to 2 tsp

Oil - 2 to 3 tbsp

Cumin seeds - 2 tsp

Coriander leaves - optional

Method:

1. Set the paneer out to defrost. It also helps to immerse them in warm water for about ten minutes. This makes the paneer absorb the gravy and masalas better.

2. Cut the onions, tomato and green bell peppers into 1 inch square pieces. Slit the green chillies.

3. Add oil in a big thick bottomed vessel and splutter the cumin seeds. Add the onions and fry until they are transparent and lightly browned in the corners.

4. Then add the cut bell peppers and fry for another 5 minutes until they begin to soften lightly.

5. Move the vessel over to another stove that is not hot and add the ginger, chilli powder, turmeric powder and garam masala. Mix well and move it back to the hot stove.

6. Add the tomatoes, green chilli and tej patta. Mix and let it cook for about 10 minutes until the tomatoes are completely cooked.

7. Add the curds and cook until it is well blended and starts to leave oil.

8. Add water as needed, paneer and salt. Mix and cook with a lid for about 15 to 20 minutes.

9. Switch off the stove. Now add the pepper powder and coriander leaves. Cover and let it sit on the stove covered.

Source:

http://www.amul.com/recipes/paneer2.html

The website also has some other nice paneer recipes that you can try.

P.S.: My photographer is in the US and I am in Germany for our respective summer internships, so pics will be added soon once I get back home to the US and my photographer :) 

P.P.S.:Updated with pics!!!

Paneer Stir Fry

This recipe was invented when I had reached the heights of craving for some paneer dish at the hour of midnight. Which means that I had minimum ingredients at hand..:) This dish comes best when prepared on a dosa tawa.

Ingredients:
1) Diced Paneer - 250 gms
2) Garam masala Powder - 1tsp
3) Chat masala - 1tsp
4) Haldi Power - 1tsp (Just for the color)
5) Lemon juice - 1/2 tsp
6) Oil as required for stir fry
7) Salt as required
8) Coriander leaves for garnishing

Procedure:
1) Heat the tawa and saute Paneer in it with a few drops of oil till the sides turn slightly brown and crispy. Remember to drain out exces water from paneer before you put it in the tawa, else it will turn soggy.
2) Now add all the masala, lemon juice and salt.
3) Toss well and remove the tawa off the heat.
4) Transfer contents into a bowl and mix in the coriander leaves.
5) Can be served with tomato sauce

Note: Paneer tends to harden once its cold. So this dish tastes best when served hot!

Mutter Paneer

What do you do when you have just gotten over a "limbo" by treating yourself to a gorgeous hair-cut? You make mutter paneer! :D

I had a packet of paneer sitting in my freezer for quite sometime now. Given the fact that I'm off to China for two weeks and then to Germany for another 4 months for my internship, I decided NOT to shop anymore and just cook all the leftover grocery at home. So the debate of palak paneer or mutter paneer began and VJ finally won with his pleas for mutter paneer.

I found this recipe online on some website around 2006 I guess. Not sure. I tried searching it again and did not find the link. I know its somewhere in my home computer desktop, but that's back home in India. I've always followed this recipe for mutter paneer although its very different from the other ones I found yesterday. If you are the kind soul who posted this, a million thanks to you and please send me your name so that I can reference you for due credit :)

Ingredients:

Onions - 2 medium

Cloves - 4

Cinnamon (dalchini) - 3 inch piece

Turmeric powder - 1/4 to 1/2 tsp

Oil - 3 tbsp (you can also use ghee)

Ginger - 2 inch piece (crushed)

Garlic - 3 to 4 cloves (crushed)

Green chillies - 2 spicy hot (slit)

Tomatoes - 2 medium (pureed)

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Green peas - 4 cups

Paneer - 1 or 2 cups

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Add 1 tbsp oil and first fry the cloves and cinnamon lightly in it. Then add the onions and fry well. Let it cool and grind it to a fine paste in a blender. Set aside.

2. Now add the remaining oil in a pan, splutter jeera in it and then add the green chillies, ginger and garlic. Fry until the raw smell of garlic and ginger fades off.

3. Add the onion paste and mix well. Then immediately add the tomato puree and cook until the oil seperates.

4. Add the spices (chilli powder and coriander powder) and let it fry for another minute.

5. Then add water as needed, green peas, paneer and salt and cook on medium until it is all well blended. It takes about 15 - 20 mins for me.

You can add some freshly chopped coriander to garnish it or also use some garam masala along with the other spices. I used frozen peas here and not fresh ones, so if you are using fresh peas you may need to add more water to cook it in the gravy. Pre-cooking it is also another option. You can use ginger - garlic paste too instead of the crushed ginger and garlic.

Source:

I don not have the link with me now. But please leave a comment if you are the one who put up this recipe.

Fried Rice

I was missing my mom badly yesterday and decided to make this comfort food for my soul.

It's a mom-daughter ritual-recipe that was made every Saturday on my once-a-month weekend trips to home from Bangalore to Pondichery after I moved out. Mom always makes this with cucumber raitha or onion raitha. Miss you mom... :)

Ingredients:

Ghee - 4 tbsp

Jeera - 1/2 tsp

Pepper - 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon (dalchini) - 1/2 inch piece

Cloves - 4

Bay leaf - 1

Ginger - 2 inch piece (crushed)

Green chillies - 2 spicy hot (slit)

Onion - 1 medium (finely chopped)

Potato - 1 medium

Carrots - 2

Green beans - 6 to 8

Capsicum - 1 medium or 1/2 large

Green peas - 1/2 cup

Rice - 2 cups

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Use a nice thick bottomed pan and heat 1 tbsp ghee in it. Wash the rice and fry it in the ghee until the moisture is gone. Remove the rice and let it cool.

2. In the same pan now add the remaining ghee and add all the whole garam masala ingredients including the green chillies and ginger and let them fry for a minute.

2. Then add the onions and fry them until they are transparent. Do not brown them.

3. Cube the potatoes, chop the carrots, beans and capsicum and wash the peas. Now add the vegetables and fry them for 3-5 mins.

4. Add the fried rice with 3 cups of water (this is enough to cook the rice and vegetables without over cooking them) and salt to taste.

5. Mix well and cover it with a tight lid with air pressure vents and cook on medium until all the water is evaporated. Then set it on low and let it cook for another 5 minutes or until the rice is done.

Source:

Mommy dearest :) If you have a concern with this recipe, please leave a comment and I will get back to you.