Aloo methi/Potato Fenugreek Curry

Aloo methi is such a easy and a go to side dish which you can make in 20-25 minutes. Recently I had my cousin and her family visiting us from NY and this dish was on the menu and everyone liked it.

Ingredients
3 potatoes, peeled and cut into small pieces
1 big fresh fenugreek (methi) leaves bunch (use only leaves, wash thoroughly and chop it roughly)
4-5 finely chopped green chilies (adjust as per taste)
2 tsp coriander/dhania powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder/haldi
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida (hing)
4 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
White sesame seeds (2 tbsp for garnish, optional)

How I Prepare

1. Heat oil in a pan, add hing, mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Allow mustard seeds to crackle. Add green chilies and potatoes and stir-fry for about 5 minutes.
2. Add turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt. Cook covered for 5 minutes on a medium flame. The potatoes should be 3/4 cooked by now.
3. Add fenugreek leaves and mix everything nicely and allow to cook for 5 more minutes on low flame.
4. Add sesame seeds and serve hot with roti's.

Note:
1. If you don't like the bitter taste of methi leaves, then soak it in salt water for 10-15 minutes and then squeeze the water out and use the leaves.
3. Also increase or decrease the quantity of methi leaves as per your taste

Bharwan Baingan/Stuffed Brinjal/Stuffed Eggplant

Here comes one more delicacy of Rajasthan, Bharwa baingan. It is stuffed eggplant curry made with  garlic paste and basic spices (red chilli powder, coriander powder, tumeric powder). I optionally add half onion to have more masala in the curry. For the Jain version of the curry both garlic and onion are completely skipped. 

Ingredients
8-10 small eggplant. Washed and pat dried.
10-12  cloves of garlic
1/2 medium sized onion
4-5 small green chilies (adjust as per your taste)
2 tsp red chilli powder
11/2 tsp coriander powder (dhaniya powder)
1/4 tsp tumeric powder
1/4 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
Pinch of hing
Salt as per taste
1/4 cup of water
3-4 tbsp cooking Oil

How I Make
1. Slit the eggplant length wise from the base towards the stalk, dividing first into half and making another slit dividing each into quarters.

2. Grind onion, garlic and green chilli into a paste. To it add red chilli powder, dhaniya powder, tumeric powder, salt as per taste and mix into a paste. Add little water if required.

3. Fill the cut eggplant with the above paste.
4. Heat the oil in a pan, add hing, mustard seeds, jeera, stuffed eggplant and any leftover paste and mix gently.
5. Cover and cook till the eggplant turn tender, stirring a few times in between. Sprinkle few drops of water if required to avoid burning of the eggplant and masala.
6. Serve it hot with roti's

Note
1. Additionally you can add half tomatoes finely chopped while the eggplant is half cooked. This will give tangy flavor to the curry.
2. To check if the eggplant is fully cooked gently press the eggplant with a fork or toothpick.

Cabbage with Chana dal Curry/Patta gobi chana dal saag

Bored making the same old plain curry from cabbage? Here is an alternative, add some chana dal and you get yummy & protein rich curry. Coming from a Jain family my mom never used Patta gobi  in her kitchen and I never tasted it until I got married. After marriage I slowly started to eat cabbage and made different dishes out of it like plain curry, cabbage baath, cabbage pakoda etc.

Last week when I had cabbage in my pantry I was thinking of making a different curry out of it. I searched for north Indian on google and I found that Punjabi's make cabbage chickpeas curry, instantly I thought wow great, then I can make it with chana dal too, similar to chana dal duudi (bottle gourd) or chana dal karela.

This curry was an instant hit. Everybody loved at home. Eat with roti or rice its taste awesome.

Ingredients:
Cabbage - 4 cups, finely chopped
Chana dal - ½ cup (Soak in water for 30-45 minutes)
1/2 onion chopped into small pieces (optional)
3-4 gloves of garlic, finely chopped
2-3 Green chilies, cut into slit
11/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp dhaniya powder (Corainder powder)
1/4 tsp tumeric powder
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 dry red chilies - broken into half
Few Curry leaves
Salt to taste
3 tbsp Oil
Pinch of hing (asafotedia)
Coriander leaves chopped (optional -  for garnish)

How I Prepare
1. In a microwave safe bowl, cook chana dal with water for 4-5 minutes. Don't cook it fully the dal should not turn mushy.
2.  Heat oil in a saute pan, add hing, mustard seeds, cumin seeds. Once they start to splutter, add red chilies, green chilies and curry leaves followed by garlic. Saute for few seconds and then add onion.
3. Once onion is cooked, add cabbage. Cook it for 2-3 minutes. Then add chana dal (make sure to drain the water), red chili powder, dhaniya powder, tumeric powder and salt. Mix everything nicely.
4 . Cover it with lid and cook it for few minutes. Check occasionally and if required sprinkle some water.
5. Cook the curry until cabbage is tender and translucent.
6. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve it hot.

Note
If you don't have microwave or don't want to use it, alternatively you can boil the dal on stove until it is tender or cook it in pressure cook for 1-2 whistles.

Chana dal Karela

Here goes one more recipe from Karela :). My mom makes chana dal karela especially for us. Growing up as a kid I never tasted the bharwa karela. We used to eat only chana dal karela by leaving the karela pieces out in a plate :) but eventually got used to the flavor of Karela. Also this dish is a good way to start eating karela for all people out there who dislike karela's 

Ingredients
3-4 Karela, skinned and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1/2 cup of chana dal, washed and soaked in water for 2-3 hours
2 tsp of tamarind pulp/paste
5-6 cloves of garlic, chopped into small pieces (alternatively you can use garlic paste)
2 tsp red chilli powder
11/2 tsp dhaniya powder
1/4 tsp tumeric powder
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
Pinch of hing
3 tbsp oil
Few curry leaves
Salt to taste
Coriander for garnish (Optional)
1 cup of water

How I Prepare
1. Sprinkle some salt on the cut pieces of karela and add some water and keep it aside, for 20-30 minutes. You can skip this step if you don't mind the bitterness.
2. Heat up the oil in a pan, add hing, jeera/cumin seeds, mustard seeds and curry leaves. Allow mustard seeds to splutter. Then add chopped garlic pieces and saute for few seconds.
3. Lower the flame, add tumeric powder, red chilli powder, dhaniya powder, salt as per taster and little water. Mix everything up and allow masala to cook for 2-3 minutes.
4.Add tamarind paste, soaked chana dal and cook it for few more minutes with lid closed.
5.Squeeze water out of karela and add it to above mix. Add more water as required. Chana dal will need water to cook.
6. Allow the curry to cook for 15-20 minutes. Stir it occasionally until dal and karela are cooked.
7. Garnish with coriander and serve it with roti's


Notes
1. If you forgot to soak the dal in advance then boil the dal in microwave for 4-5 minutes.
2. Don't add all the water at once, add it as you need it. This gravy is supposed to be dry

Bharwa Pyaz/Stuffed Onion/Pearl Onion Curry

This dish comes out straight from our Rajasthani cuisine. Generally onions are used as an ingredient for other dishes; It's very rare you come across a curry which is just made from onion. This recipe is very quick and easy !!! It just needs basic ingredients from you kitchen pantry and dish is ready. My mom used to make this curry and serve with roti's often for Sunday night dinner after heavy lunch and breakfast on Sunday  Also you can make this curry when you are out of  green veggies.

Ingredients
Pearl onions (I got a small bag containing 15-18)

1 tbs red chili powder
2 tbs dhaniya powder
1/4 tsp tumeric powder
2 tbs tamarind pulp
Oil for tadka
Mustard seeds
Cumin seeds
Pinch of hing
Salt to taste
Few spoons of water

How I Prepare

1. Peel the skin of onions, and make half slit on both the sides of onion making sure you don't cut the onion into pieces (Similar to what we do for Baigan(Eggplant)). Also always cut from the bottom side.

2. Mix all the masala ingredients into a paste adding few drops of water.

3. Don't make the masala too watery.

4. Stuff the masala into the onions, while stuffing be careful do not wide open the slit it could break the onions.

5. Heat up the oil in a wide pan. Add hing, mustard seeds, jeera and then add the stuffed onion and left over  masala if you have.  Lower the flame give it a gentle fry.

6. Cover the pan with a lid and cook it for 10-15 minutes, occasionally give it a stir.

7. Serve it hot with roti or paratha.

Bharwa Karela (Stuffed Karela/Bitter Gourd)

Karela, hmmmmm... not a big fan of it while growing up but mom takes special interest in making the curries. It is one of her favorite vegetable. She has various different recipe for Karela. Last year when she was here for my delivery she thought me lot of Rajasthani dishes and Bharwa Karela was must to learn as it had become my hubby's favorite curry :).

Ingredients

4-5 Karela

8-10 Garlic pods

3-4 green chilies

1 1/2 tbs red chilli powder

2 tbs dhaniya powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 1/2 thick tamarind paste (Alternatively use lemon juice or dry mango powder)

1/2 tbs cumin seeds

1/4 tbs mustard seeds

6-8 seeds of Saunf 

Pinch of hing

Few spoons of water

Few curry leaves

Salt to taste

4 tbs of Oil (You need more oil for this curry then other regular curry)

How I Prepare
1. First peel roughly just the bumpy outer skin of Karela. Then with the peeler shave the skin and keep it aside as show below.

2. Once the Karelas are completely peeled, do a slit in between and cut into half. If the karela is too small you can leave it as is with just a slit.

3. Place the Karelas in microwave safe bowl, add little water, salt and turmeric powder and heat it for 2-3 minutes. This will make the karela a bit tender and remove the bitterness.  If you like the curry to be bit bitter then you can skip this step.

4. Allow the Karelas to cool down and then squeeze the water out and keep it aside.

5. Make a coarse paste of garlic and green chilli. To this add the Karela skin by chopping it into small pieces.

6. Add red chili powder, dhaniya powder, tumeric powder, salt, tamarind paste and make a paste as shown below.

7. Now fill the above paste into the cut karela. Keep the remaining paste as is.

8. Heat up the oil in a wide pan. Add hing, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, Saunf and curry leaves. To this drop the stuffed karelas, left over masala and gently give a toss.

9. Cover the pan with a lid and allow it to cook for 15-20 minutes on a low flame. Stir it occasionally and if water is required add spoon by spoon.

10. Once the Karelas are cooked, you will see oil coming out of masala. Also make sure you are not getting the raw smell of the masala still.

11. Serve it hot with roti. 

Note:

1. This curry stays good for 2-3 days at room temperature.  

2. Additionally you a fry the masala for 2-3 minutes before stuffing. 

Bharwa bhindi (Stuffed bhindi/Stuffed Okra)

This is the most famous curry in our marwadi household and this delicacy is so relished that this curry is even  made when we have important events or guest at home. Bharwa or Bharma bhindi means stuffed bhindi made out of basic ingredient like garlic, red chilli powder etc. It is simple and yet yummy yummy. 

Ingredients
Ladies finger (bhindi) approximately 18-20
7-8 cloves of garlic pod
3-4 green chili (optional)
1/4 tbsp turmeric powder
3 tbsp coriander (dhania) powder
3 tbsp chilli powder to taste
1 tbsp dried mango powder (amchur) - optional
1/2 tbsp mustard seeds
1/2 tbsp jeera (cumin seeds)
1/4 tbsp hing (asafeotida)
Salt to taste
lLttle water
3 tbsp oil

How I Prepare
1. Wash the bhindi and pat dry them nicely. Make sure no water is seen.
2. Cut both the ends of bhindi, then make a slit in between lengthwise. Make sure not to split the bhindi.
3. Make garlic and green chili paste. To this add turmeric, dhania, red chilli powder, amchur and salt, combine everything into a mix by adding little water. The paste should be thick and not watery.
4. Fill each slit bhindi with the above masala and keep aside.
5. Heat oil in a pan. Add hing, mustard seeds, jeera saute for 30 seconds. Add the stuffed bhindi and left over masala if any.
6. Cover and cook on a slow flame, stirring and turning the bhindi in between.
7. Serve hot with rotis.

Notes
1. If you want more masala, additionally you can add onion while make garlic and green chili paste. Grind everything in smooth paste.
2. This dish don't need any water while cooking. But if feel the curry is burning and needs some then add just 1 or 2 spoons water.

Horse gram sundal/Kollu Sundal/Kulthi Sundal

Ingredients
2 cup  soaked or sprouted Horsegram
1 medium sized onion
Few curry leaves
1-2 whole red chilli break into half
3-4 green chillies finely chopped (increase it if u want more spicy)
1 teaspoon urad dal
2 teaspoon grated coconut  ( I use frozen)
3-4 teaspoon oil
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 Asafoetida (Hing)
Salt to taste
1/4 cup water

How I Prepare
1. Pressure cook horsegram with little water and salt. I took 2 whistles. The bean should not be too hard or too mush.

2. Take a pan heat up the oil. Add hing, mustard seeds. Let the seeds splutter. Add urad dal, curry leaves, green chilies and whole red chilli.

3. Saute until the urad dal is golden brown in color.  Add onions, saute them until translucent.

4. Lower the flame,  add cooked gram and salt to taste. Mix everything nicely and cover the pan with lid and cook it for few minutes.

5. Garnish with coriander and coconut. Serve it hot as side dish or salad.

Lahsun Ki Sabzi (Garlic Curry)

Sounds Weird, but its true it's a curry served as side dish. You might have heard of garlic chutney many times but not the sabzi. My mom makes this curry often when she runs out of options and if you are a garlic fan then you will love to eat your roti's with this curry alone. 

Ingredients
2 Pods of garlic, peel the cloves and cut them into small/tiny pieces
2 teaspoon of red chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder
1/4 teaspoon of mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon of cumin seeds (jeera)
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida (Hing)
2-3 tbs oil
3-4 teaspoon of water
Salt to taste

How I prepare

1. Take a small pan, heat up the oil in it. Add hing, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and allow the mustard to splutter. Lower the flame and add garlic and saute it for few minutes until the garlic has turned into light golden brown color. Don't allow the garlic to burn.
2. Add all the spices and salt. Add water, mix everything nicely. Allow the mix to cook until the oil separates out from the masala.
3. Serve it with Roti, Dosa or Akki Roti.

Notes
1. The curry stays good for 3-4 days outside and if refrigerated then it's good for few weeks.
2. After emptying the curry, I wipe one Roti not to waste any masala :)

Bharwa Besan Mirchi (Stuffed Mirchi)

Ingredients
5-6 Long green chilies/mirchi
1 cup besan flour (chickpea flour)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder (dhaniya powder)
1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon amchur powder
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon jeera (cumin seeds)
4-5 seeds of ajawan seeds
3-4 tbs Oil
1/4 teaspoon Asafeotida (Hing)
1 cup water
Salt to taste

How I Prepare
1. Wash the chilies and pat dry them. Cut in middle and if mirchi's are too long cut them into half. Remove the seeds if you don't want the curry to be spicy.

2. Take a pan, add little oil and roast the besan flour on medium flame until the raw smell is gone.

3. Transfer the besan in the plate and allow it to cool down.
4. Add mustard seeds, turmeric powder, dhaniya powder, red chilli powder, Salt and mix into a paste by adding water. The paste should not be too watery.

5. Fill up all the mirchi with the paste. Keep the left over paste as is.

6. Heat up oil in the pan, once hot add hing, jeera and saute for few seconds.
7. Lower the flame and add the stuffed mirchi and left over paste and toss it slow. Add little water and cover with the lid.
8. On medium flame cook the curry for 15-20 minutes or until the mirchi is completely cooked. Stir it occasionally.

9. Serve it hot with roti's

Notes
1. If  chilies are not spicy, then you can add small green chilies into the besan paste.
2. Don't make the besan paste too thick, once cooked it will be too hard. Paste should be off cake batter consistency.
3. Optionally u can add few drops of lemon juice if amchur powder is not available. If you like it to be little tangy.

Pach Kutta Ki Sabzi

Pach Kutta Ki sabzi is a very common curry in Marwadi cuisine. This curry is made from 5 different vegetables hence the name Panch Kutta. It is so famous that in most of our marwadi wedding this curry is made. For Jain version skip the garlic. We are Jain but we eat onion and garlic all year around expect during 8 days of Paryushan. My mom loves garlic and she tends to add them a lot due to health benefits and no wonder her dishes always taste better then others.

I kind of like this dish as it allows to empty you refrigerator in one single shot. You can add what you have handy. If one of veggie listed below is not available you can skip it totally.

Ingredients
1/2 cup gawar phali (clustered beans) cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cucumber cut into blocks
1 cup peas
1/2 cup green capsicum
1 Turai (chinese okra/Beerakaya/Ridge gourd ) you can substitue with zuccini also
1 large tomato
4-5 big cloves of garlic finely chopped
2 teaspoon of red chilli powder
11/2 teaspoon of dhaniya powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
Few curry leaves (optional)
Pinch of hing (asafoetida)
3 - 4 tsp oil
Salt to taste
Little water (1-2 spoons)
Coriander for garnish

How I prepare
1. Take a pan, heat up the oil. Add hing, mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Once mustard starts to splutter add garlic and curry leaves. Saute for few seconds.
2. Turn the stove heat low. Add chilli powder, turmeric powder, dhaniya powder, salt, little water and mix it nicely.
3. Allow this mix to cook for 2-3 minutes. Make sure not to burn the mix, add more water if required.
4. Add gawar phali and cover with the lid and allow it to cook for 2-3 minutes.
5. Then add all the remaining veggies and mix it well. Add little water if required. Tomato and cucumber will release water, make sure not to make it too watery.
6. Close with the lid and allow the veggies to cook for 10-15 minutes. Occasionally check in between and give it a stir.
7. Once cooked garnish with coriander and serve hot.

Note:
1. Here in US veggies cook really fast and they release plenty of water so I add water very cautiously.
2. You can add few drops of lemon too.
3. I added gawar phali first and allowed it to cook for few minutes as it takes long time for this veggie to cook.
4. Alternatively instead of cooking the curry on stove, you can pressure cook the curry after step 5.

Aloo Palak

Ingredients
2 potatoes boiled and cut into big chunks
2-3 bunch of spinach ( I use big packet of baby spinach) roughly chopped
4-5 big cloves of garlic finely chopped
2 teaspoon of red chilli powder
11/2 teaspoon of dhaniya powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
Pinch of hing (asafoetida)
2 tsp oil
Salt to taste
Little water (1-2 spoons)

How I Prepare
1. Take a pan heat up the oil. Add hing, mustard seeds, jeera saute for few seconds  then add finely chopped garlic and saute for few more seconds.
2. Lower the flame, add all powders and little water and mix it well. Don't allow the masala to burn. Add more water if required and cook it for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add spinach and saute for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add potatoes and mix everything together nicely and allow the curry to cook for 10 minutes with lid closed.
5. Server it hot with Roti or Rice

Note
1. You can add green chilli, if you want more spicy. Rajasthani curries are generally red in color.
2. Don't reduce the garlic quantity, garlic gives a unique flavor to the dish.

Besan Ki Sabzi

Using Besan (chickpea flour) for cooking is very common in Rajasthan cuisine. We make lots of curries from besan like ghata ki sabzi, Bhujiya ki Sabji (plain besan bhaji), sev ki sabzi, besan ki sabzi, patod ki sabzi, Khadi etc.. I will be listing them all when I make them shortly. In my house my mom use to make besan ki sabzi on sunday nights as a light comforting food after a heavy sunday lunch. This curry should be made just before you want to eat. It has to be eaten hot and generally prepared on sunday night as everyone is at home after their weekend outing.

Ingredients
4 tsp besan flour (chickpea flour)
2-3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 onion finely chopped
3-4 green chilies chopped
Few peanuts (this is optional, my mom never adds this but my hubby likes as it gives some crunch to the curry)
Few curry leaves
1 teaspoon  red chilli powder
1/4 teaspoon garam masala (optional, add it only if u want it more spicy)
1/2 teaspoon dhaniya powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4 teaspoon jeera (cumin seeds)
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
Pinch of hing (asafoetida)
2-3 teaspoon oil
11/2 cup of water
Coriander leaves
Salt to taste

How I Prepare
1. Add besan to a large bowl, add all the spice powder, including salt as per taste. Add water slowly and make a thin paste (similar to what we do for Khadi).

2. In a pan, heat oil and once hot add hing, mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Once the mustard seeds splutter add garlic and saute for 1 minute, then add groundnut seeds, onion, curry leaves, green chilli and saute until onions are translucent.

3. Lower the flame and slowly add the besan mix. Make sure to stir continuously to avoid lumps.

4. Add more water if required as the besan will start getting thick as it cooks.

5. Taste the mix and adjust the salt and spicy accordingly. Allow the curry to cook for 10-15 minutes until the raw smell of besan is gone completely.

6. Garnish with coriander and serve hot with rotis

Paneer Veggie Curry

Ingredients
1 cup of cut paneer pieces.
1 1/2 cup of red and green capsicum pieces
1 large onion cut into big pieces
1 tomato cut into blocks
2 teaspoon ginger and garlic paste
1 teaspoon kasuri methi
2 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 teaspoon dhaniya/coriander seeds powder
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4 cumin seeds
1 bay leaf
2-3 tbsp oil
Salt to taste


How I Prepare
1. Cut all the veggies including onion and paneer in block size.
2. In a pan heat up the oil, once hot add jeera, bay leaf and saute for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add ginger/garlic paste, onion and saute it until onions are translucent.
4. Add tomato  red chilli powder  dhaniya powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, salt and let it cook until the tomato become soft.
5. Add capsicum pieces and cook for 5 more minutes
6. Once capsicum is half cooked, crush kasuri methi between your palm and add it.  Add paneer and mix everything gently.
7.Close the lid and allow it to cook on low flame for 5-10 minutes more.
8. Server hot with roti's

Note
1. I didn't add any water as the juice from tomato will help to keep the curry moist. If you need more gravy then add water little by little.
2. You can add few lemon juice too if you like it to be more tangy.

Horse gram curry/Kollu/Kulthi

Horse gram known as Kulthi in hindi, is not a common lentil used in our daily cooking. Recently hubby and I were doing South Beach diet and in phase 1 you should avoid sugar and carbs completely. Being vegetarian the only means of protein for us was lentil/dal. Initially it sounded weird to eat lentils everyday without any roti or rice. But eventually I got used to it and thanks to South Beach diet I was able to shred my pregnancy and post pregnancy weight completely :).During this phase I started to try different lentil than usual and Horse gram was one among them. Before the diet I used to use horse gram once in 6 months or so. But now I started to use them more. So for convenience I sprout them in bulk and freeze it. You can make soup, sundal, busssaru (typical karnataka style), curry etc and having them ready is quite handy you need not plan in advance. I will share the curry recipe the way my MIL makes.   I have used the frozen sprouted beans here. You can use freshly sprouted or non sprouted too. It tastes great.

Ingredients
1. 2 cups of horse gram (frozen, freshly sprouted or soaked in water overnight)
2. 1 large potato
3. 1 medium sized onion
4. 3-4 gloves of garlic
5. 1/2 inch ginger
6. 1-2 green chillies
7. 1 large tomato
8. 2 teaspoon of grated coconut
9. 3-4 whole red chillies
10. 2 teaspoon of dhaniya powder
11. 1 clove
12. 1/4 inch cinnamon stick (chaka/Dalchini)
13. 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
14. 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida (hing)
15. 1-2 bay leaves
16. Salt to taste
17. Oil
18. Coriander leaves for garnish

How I Prepare
1. In small pan add little oil, fry onion, garlic, ginger, green chilli, red chilli for 3-4 minutes. Add tomato, grated coconut and fry for 2-3 minutes. Grind everything into a smooth paste.
2. Take oil in pressure cooker. Once hot add hing, cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaf and saute for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the grinded paste, dhaniya powder, and potato. Saute it for 3-4 minutes.
4. Add horse gram, salt to taste. 1/2 cup of water and mix everything together and pressure cook for 2 whistles (or until horse gram is tender).
5. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve it hot with rice or roti.

Notes
1. If you use the frozen one, take one more whistle to defrost.
2. Adjust the spices as per your taste.

Paneer Tikka Masala (Marinated Indian Cheese)

Paneer Tikka Masala is simple yet rich and elegant north Indian dish and I am sure it is the favorite restaurant menu item for most of us. We always feel that making any dish with paneer is a complex process which is not true. If you have ingredients handy then any dish can be made at home.  I will post the recipe in 3 different step (Marinating the paneer, preparing the gravy paste and final step to prepare the curry). Below is the picture of the final product (Yum Yummy)

Ingredients (Marinating)
1. 1 packet of paneer (1/2 lb)
2. 2 teaspoon yogurt
3. 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
4. 1/2 teaspoon jeera powder
5. 1 teaspoon besan  (chickpea flour)
6. 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
7. 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
6. Pinch of salt

How I Prepare
1. Cut paneer into 1/2 or 1 inch blocks, whatever size you prefer. Mix all above ingredients for marinating in a bowl. Add cut paneer and mix it such that paneer is nicely coated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow this mix to marinate  for 45 minutes-1 hour. It's ok to keep the mix in refrigerator.

Ingredients (Gravy)
1. 3 ripe tomatoes chopped into big pieces
2. 2 cloves of garlic
3. 1/2 teaspoon of jeera seeds (cumin seeds)
4. 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds (saunf) 
4. 10-12 cashew nuts
5. 1-2 green chillies
6. 3-4  whole red chillies
7. 2 cups  of water.

How I Prepare
1. Add above ingredients in a cook pot and boil until the tomatoes are tender. Allow it to cool and then grind it into a smooth paste.

Ingredients (final step)
1. 2-3 teaspoon of oil
2. Salt to taste
3. 1 teaspoon butter (at room temperature)
4. 1 whole clove
5. 1-2 bay leaves
6. 1 whole green cardamom
7. 1 teaspoon of kasuri methi
8. 1/4 teaspoon garam masala.
9. 1/2 teaspoon sugar

How I Prepare
1. Take a pan, heat up half of the oil and once hot drop the marinated paneer pieces slowly and fry it until golden brown on medium heat. Take out the paneer.

2. In the same pan add some more oil. Once hot add cloves, bay leaves, cardamom and saute it for 1 minute. To this add the pureed mixture and lower the flame. The tomato mix will start  to splutter so cover  it with a lid and allow it to boil for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add salt to taste, sugar, garam masala and crush methi with your hands and add it to mix. Mix it nicely and cook it for 2 more minutes. You should start getting the kasuri methi smell.
4. Add fried paneer gently to the above mix and stir it slowly making sure you don't break the paneer. Add butter.
5. Cover the pan with lid and cook it on medium heat for 1-2 minutes.
6. Serve hot with rice, jeera rice, ghee rice or roti.

Red Leaves/Amaranth leaves Sambar/Dantina soppu Huli

Amaranth leaves also known as red leaves is very common in Karnataka and it's known as Dantina soppu. Dantina Soppu sambar goes well with rice and ragi mudde. You can prepare either sambar or andhra pappu (without sambar powder) using these leaves.  I generally make sambar (grinded version) and it is my hubby's favourite.

Ingredients
1. 1 bunch of amarnath leaves.
2. 1 onion. I use half for grinding cut into big blocks and other half is cut into long slices
3. 1 tomato. I use half for grinding cut into big blocks and other half chopped into pieces
4. 1/2 cup toor dal
5. Pinch of turmeric powder
6. 2-3 teaspoon of sambar powder (Or go as per your regular quantity)
7. 2 teaspoon grated coconut
8. 2 cloves of garlic
9. 1 teaspoon Tamarind paste
10. 1/4 whole jeera
11. Salt to taste

For Tadka
12. 1-2 whole red chilli cut into halves
13. 1/4  teaspoon asafoetida (hing)
14. 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
15. Oil for tadka
16. Few Curry leaves

How I Prepare
1. Pressure cook toor dal for 2 whistles with turmeric powder.
2. Wash the leaves and chop them into small pieces. If the stem is tender you can chop them too. It taste good.  Add leaves, half cut onion, tomato and little salt to the cooked dal and pressure cook for 1 more whistle. Add little water if required.
3. Heat up little oil in a pan, add onion, garlic cloves and jeera to it. Saute it until onion is translucent. Add remaining half tomato, grated coconut and saute it for 1-2 minutes. Allow the mixture to cool.
4. Grind the above mixture into smooth paste with sambar powder and tamarind paste.
5. Add the grinded paste to the cooked dal. Adjust the consistency by adding some water. Don't make it watery. This sambar should be thick.
6. Cook it on medium flame until the sambar starts boiling. Add Salt as per taste
7. Take a small pan, heat put up oil. Add hing, mustard seeds, curry leaves and whole chill and saute for 1 minute. Add the tadka to the boiled sambar.
8. Serve hot with rice and papad.

Indian Flat Beans Curry/ Chaprada Avere Palya

Indian flat bean or Val Papdi in gujarati or Chaprada Avere Palya in Kannada is prepared as a side dish and served with hot roti or rice. I generally prefer with rice than roti. This curry is one among those vegetable which was never made in my house (Marwari Jain family). The reason for this is my parents are from Rajasthan and Rajasthani cuisine do not include lots of green veggies, due to the climatic condition of the region. I was born and brought up in Bangalore but still this vegetable didn't make it entry in my list either, until I got married to my hubby belonging to Iyengar family from Bangalore. In States this veggie is easily available in all Indian store year round and for first time my hubby thought me how to cook it? I made couple of changes and came out of my own version.   

Ingredients
1. 1/2 lb of Indian flat bean
2. 1 medium sized onion
3. Few curry leaves
4. 1-2 whole red chilli break into half
5. 3-4 green chillies finely chopped (increase it if u want more spicy)
6. 1 teaspoon urad dal
7. 2 teaspoon grated coconut  ( I use frozen)
8. 3-4 teaspoon oil
9. 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
10. 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
11. 1/4 Asafoetida (Hing)
11. Salt to taste
12. 1/4 cup water

How I Prepare
1. Wash beans thoroughly with cold water, using your hands remove strings from both the ends. Take handful of beans at once place on cutting board and cut beans into small pieces (1/4 inch)

2. In a pressure cook add cut beans, 1/4 cup water, little bit of water and cook it for 1 whistle. The reason I do this sometimes the beans tend to be hard and pressure cooking them lightly will make sure all beans are evenly cooked. Alternatively you can boil direct on stove for few minutes

3. Take a pan add oil. Once the oil is heated up add hing, mustard seeds. Let the seeds splutter. Add urad dal, curry leaves, green chillies and whole red chilli.

4. Saute until the urad dal is golden brown in color.  Add onions, saute them until translucent.

5. Lower the flame, add turmeric powder, salt to taste and cooked vegetables. Mix everything nicely and cover the pan with lid and cook it for few minutes.

6. Garnish with coriander and coconut. Serve it hot.

Note
1. While adding beans to the tadka mix make sure to drain the water. This curry should be dry. You can drain the beans and keep water handy in case u see the curry to be too dry you can add it little by little.

2. I  put the frozen coconut packet in microwave for 30 sec. This helps the coconut to thaw quickly and easy to garnish.

3. Alternatively beans can be cooked without pressure cooking too. Add the cut beans to the tadka mix and cook it. It's just that it takes more cooking time.

4. You can skip onion's too and just go with basic tadka ingredients.

Beetroot Curry/Beetroot Palya

Ingredients

1. 2 Beets medium sized
2. 1 whole red chilli
3. 3-4 green chilli cut into small piece
4. Few curry leaves
5. 1 teaspoon of urad dal
6. 1/4 spoon Asafoetida (Hing)
7. 2 teaspoon of shredded coconut (I used frozen)
8. 1/2 teaspoon of mustard seeds (Rai in hindi and sasive in Kannada)
9. Few strings of coriander finely chopped
10. Oil for tadka (2-3 teaspoon)
11. Salt to taste

How I Prepare

1. Remove the beets skin and cut into 1/2 thin inch small pieces.
2. In a saute pan add oil. Once hot add asafoetida, mustard seeds. Allow the mustard seeds to splutter . Then add urad dal, red chilli (cut into half) and curry leaves and saute until the urad dal turns into golden brown color.
3. Add green chillies and beets and saute it for few minutes. Add salt as per taste and close the lid and allow it to cook until beets are tender. Stir it occasionally.
4. Turn the stove off. Garnish the curry with coriander and coconut and mix it once.
5. Serve it hot with roti or rice.

Note
1. Add little water while cooking if required. Beets should get cooked with the moisture of itself. Closing the lid helps to retain the moisture.