Mixed Vegetable Kurma

This wednesday brings us back to Blog Hopping and this week i am on Anusha’s blog Tomato Blues. She has become one of my gmail chat buddies and it is alwayz fun to have a chat with her. She has a lovely blog and love the name of the blog. I also love the way she takes close up pics of her recipes, You will get to learn something new from each and every blog. 

Mixed Vegetable Kurma is the recipe i planned on making after reading most of her post, Have to try her marshmallows Cheese Cake, but after eating so many sweets for Diwali had to postpone that. I have prepared Kurma earlier as well but mine was always a bit off white in color but loved the green color of this and it tasted awesome as well.(Much better than my version). I have followed her recipe to the max with a couple of changes.

Mixed vegetable Kurma

Ingredients

Mixed Veggies ( I used Potato, beans, Carrot and Peas) 2 cups

Oil 1 tbsp

Jeera 1 tsp

Cloves 3

Cinnamon 1/2 “

Onion 1 Medium finely chopped

Haldi 1/4 tsp

Salt to taste

1 1/2 cup water

Make A Paste

Coriander leaves 1 Bunch (Cleaned and Washed)

Garlic Cloves

Ginger 1″

Coconut 3 tbsp

Sesame Seeds 1 tbsp

G.chillies 4 (+ or – acc to ur taste)

Method

Grind all the ingredients mentioned under “make a paste header” add little to make a fine paste.

Heat oil in a cooker, add jeera,cloves and chopped onion. 

Saute till the onions are translucent andd all the chopped veggies.

Saute the veggies for 2 mins,  add the paste, salt, and haldi and give a nice mix.

Add  water and pressure cook for 2 whistles.

The veggies will be soft by this time.

Transfer to a bowl and serve it with Hot chappatis like i did or with hot poori’s as Anusha did(A Much Better combo 🙂 )

Note.

Veggies can be substituted according to your taste.

The original recipe calls for the addition of Poppy seeds(which was not there), saunf and split chickpeas(which i forgot)

Substituting cashews with coconut will also be a good option.

Do check the other Blog Hoppers for the cooking and love you radhika for the lovely event and keeping it going for so many weeks.

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Paneer in a creamy Tomato Gravy

Paneer is one of the most preferred gravy i order in a restaurant from palak panner to paneer butter masala or paneer makhani as well. Naan with Paneer in a gravy is a best combo which is a regular feature for Sunday lunch. This is a flavorful dish with paneer cooked in a creamy tomato gravy with the addition of cream of cashews to get the creamy texture. It is called with different names from paneer butter masala to panner makhani to shahi paneer.

Paneer in a creamy Tomato Gravy

Ingredients

Paneer 1 slab diced into cubes

Onion 1 big chopped

Ginger 1″

Garlic 2 cloves

Tomatoes 3 medium No’s

8 cashews soaked in 4 tbsp milk

Milk 1/4 cup

Cream or Malai 1/4 cup

Butter 2 tbsp

Oil 1\2 tbsp

R.chilli Powder 1 tbsp

Coriander Powder 1 tsp

Kitchen king masala 1 tbsp

salt to taste

Coriander leaves and kasuri methi to garnish.

Method

Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in a pan add onion ginger and garlic and saute till onions are nicely browned but noit burnt. Let cool and make it into a fine paste.

Make a puree of tomatoes along with cashews soaked in milk.

Heat butter in a pan,  and add the onion paste and cook for a min.

Then add the tomato puree, R.chilli powder, Dhaniya powder and half of Kitchen king masala.

Cook nicley till the raw smell of tomatoes is gone and u can see a slight coat of grease on the top.

Add milk , 1/2 cup hot water and  and cook for 5 mins.

Whisk malai nicley and add along with panner cubes and salt.

Let it simmer on a slow flame for 5 mins.

Lastly add the remaining masala kasuri methi and coriander leave

Best served hot with naan and jeera rice.

Simple Meal of Rice, Dal Fry and Jeera Aloo

Comfort food  is usually one which is a very simple meal without many masalas or which doesn’t involve long time in cooking it. This is a comfort food which i like to binge on when i have had too many eat outs. It is a simple meal which is best enjoyed when steaming hot with a dollop of Ghee.

Rice Dal Fry and Jeera Aloo

Ingredients

Rice

1 Cup Rice

2 cups water

salt

Dal Fry

Masoor dal 1/2 cup

1/4 cup Moong Dal

1 G.chilli

1″ Ginger

2 Garlic Cloves

Ghee 1 tbsp

Rai 1 tsp

Hing a big pinch

Haldi 1/4 tsp

salt to taste

Coriander leaves.

Jeera Aloo

Potatoes 2 medium ones

Oil 1 tbsp

Jeera 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Method

Wash both the dals nicely, add ginger garlic and g.chilli with 1 cup water and place it in the pressure cooker.

Wash rice nicely add water and salt and keep that bowl on top of the dal bowl in the cooker

Wash potaoes nicley and place it in the cooker.

I have a big cooker so i can pressure cook all 3 together. It is so much time saving as well.

Pressure cook the above for 3 whistles.

If u dont have a cooker you would have to cook all of them separately.

When cooker is cooled proceed further.

Transfer the cooked rice in a Hotcase so that the rice will remain hot.

Dal Fry

Heat ghee in a vessel add rai,and hing.

Add haldi and the cooked dals along with salt.

Add water if the consistency is too thick.

Simmer for 5 mins and garnish with coriander leaves.

Jeera Aloo

Peel and cut the potatoes into thick strips

Heat oil in a pan,  add jeera and when it splutters add potatoes and salt and give a nice mix.

Cook them on a medium flame for another 5 mins by stirring between intervals for the potatoes to be roasted nicely.

Serve hot rice along with dal fry andd jeera aloo.

Dont forget to add a small dollop of ghee on rice.

A perfect meal 🙂

Chawla\ Black Eyed Beans Gravy

A Simple Curry to kick-start this month…….I had planned to prepare something for the Indian Cuisine Series I have started but things have been a bit busy here so maybe the next post will be linked to that. The Last some days i have thought a lot about the reason for me to start blogging, I have been following many food blogs from quiet some time, and always wanted to have a food blog of mine and finally do have one but after posting some recipes I was struck,I had to stop myself and think about it, like I wanted my blog to reflect me and it does in a sense but i wanted more from it. Sometimes I am a very lazy cook and hate the thought of entering the kitchen and cooking something……so the blog was a challenge for me to enter the kitchen to stir up new recipes and share it with you all. The Idea behind the Indian Cuisine Series was that, I wanted to push myself to try up new recipes which I have never heard of or have prepared it in my kitchen. Hope that I do succeed in that.

Lets go to the recipe i am sharing with u all 2day, at home we call it as chawla ki subzi, it is also called as black-eyed beams or Lobia.

Chawla\ Black Eyed Peas Gravy

Ingredients

Chawla\Black Eyed Beans 1cup

Oil 2 tbsp

Jeera 1tsp

Hing a pinch

Onion 1 finely Chopped

Haldi 1/4 tsp

R.Chilli Powder 1 Tbsp

Dhaniya Jeera Powder 1tsp

Salt To taste

To make a paste

Tomatoes 2 Big ones

2 Cloves Garlic

Fresh Grated Coconut 2tbsp( Even 2 Tbsp of malai will do)

Kitchen King Masala 1 tsp

A fer sprigs of Coriander leaves

Method

1.Soak Chawla overnight or if  in a hurry soak it in hot water for an hour.(I Usually forget to soak them at night so hot water is my trick)

2. Heat Oil In a pressure cooker, add Jeera, hing and then add chopped onions,  saute them till they turn a bit light brown in color.

3.Now add Haldi, R.chilli and dhaniya Jeera powder, add saute for some seconds on a low flame.

4. Add the Tomato Paste and cook nicely till the oil separates.

5. Add the soaked Chawla, salt and mix it nicely.

6. Add about 2 cups of water and pressure cook for 4 whistles.

7. When the cooker has cooled down check the consistency of the gravy,It should be semi thick and garnish with coriander leaves and kasuri methi.

Serve Hot with Roti\Rice\Bread(My personal choice)

Note.

Add the masalas depending upon the spice level u prefer.

Instead of coconut u can also add 2 tbsp of malai for the creaminess.

I do it in the cooker as it is quick way of doing it and I also feel when done like this the Chawla absorbs all the flavor of the masalas.

Happy Cooking to u all!!

Palak Paneer

“Palak Paneer” is one the most known dish associated with Punjabi Cuisine after Dal Makhani. I love Palak paneer for its  simple flavors and paired with a Naan or phulka makes it a good combo. Lets straight go to the recipe now.

Palak Paneer

Ingredients

Paneer Cubed

Palak 3 Bunches

1 g.chilli

2 cloves of garlic

8 Cashews

1 Small onion sliced

1 Medium Tomato

1/4 Cup malai

Butter 2 tbsp

Garam Masala 1 Tsp

Salt

Method

Clean and wash the palak nicely and dunk them into a pot of boiling water.

Add g.chilli, garlic, onion and cashews and let the spinach cook for mins till soft.

Drain the excess water and blend to a smooth puree.

Blend the tomatoes along with the malai to a puree.

Heat Butter in a pan, add the tomato puree and cook for 2-3 mins. Add salt and garam masala at this stage.

Then add the palak puree and mix nicely and cook again for 2 mins.

Add cubed Paneer and let cook for some time.

Serve With Naan or roti of your choice with a slice of lime and onion rings.

Note.

I don’t fry the paneer for this recipe, i just cube them add it the gravy.

This is not a spicy version, u can increase the no of g.chillies for a spicier taste.

I like the Palak and paneer to be the prominent flavor so not many masalas are added.

I am sending this recipe to Let’s Cook Series #6 ~ Subzis for Rotis hosted by Tickling Palettes