Chote Aloo in Tamatar gravy

Ingredients :

Baby Potatoes ( chote aloo ) – 6 to 8

Onion – 2 , medium sized ( finely chopped )

Tomatoes ( tamatar )– 2 ( chopped )

Coriander seeds – 1 tsp

Cumin seeds – 2 tsp

Tamarind pulp – little

Star anise – 1

Garlic – 6 to 8 cloves

Bay leaf – 1

Salt – To taste

Oil – 4 tsp

Coriander leaves – little, finely chopped

Method :

Pressure cook the potatoes  ( prick the potatoes before so that the they get cooked faster ). Peel the potatoes and keep aside.

 Heat a teaspoon of oil in a pan , add garlic and fry till golden browned. Keep aside.

In a mixer / blender , add coriander seeds + 1 teaspoon cumin seeds and grind into fine powder. Before transferring into bowl, add chopped tomatoes + fried garlic + little tamarind pulp and grind again into smooth paste without adding water. Transfer the ground paste into a bowl and keep aside.

Heat oil in a kadai, add 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds and fry for a minute. Add finely chopped onion and fry golden browned. Then , add the ground paste and mix well. Close the kadai with lid and cook for 2 minutes. Finally, add the cooked potatoes, salt and stir evenly. Cook again for 5 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with rotis or chapatis .

Lablab Bean ( Avarekalu ) Cutlet

Ingredients :

Lablab Bean  ( Avarekalu ) – ¾ cup

Potatoes – 4

Green chillies – 4

Ginger – 1 inch piece

Chat masala – 1 tsp

Cumin powder – 1 tsp

Bread crumbs – ½ cup

Semolina / Rava / Soji – ¼  cup

Salt – To taste

Coriander leaves – little ( finely chopped )

Oil - little

Method :

Pressure cook potatoes and lablab bean till 3 whitles each ( separately ). Keep aside.

Grind green chillies + ginger into paste by adding 2 teaspoons of water.

Making masala for lablab bean ( avarekalu ) filling :

Mash the lablab bean ( avarekalu ). Keep aside.

In a pan, heat oil. Add 1 ½ teaspoon of ginger green chilly paste and fry till it turns slightly brown in colour. Add the chopped coriander leaves and stir for a second. Add the mashed lablab bean ( avarekalu ) , salt. Simmer and cook closed for 3 minutes. Sprinkle water in between and stir occasionally so that the mixture doesn’t gets dry. After it gets cooked, transfer the mixture into a bowl and let it to cool.

Making potato mixture for cutlet :

Peel and mash the potatoes. In a bowl, add the mashed potatoes , chat masala , bread crumbs , 1 ½ tsp of ginger-green chilly paste and salt. Mix evenly.

Preparing cutlets :

Make a small ball of the potato mixture and shape it like a cup. Add little avarekalu filling in the center of the potato cup. Seel and flatten the potato cup into a cutlet shape. Roll the prepared cutlet in semolina ( rava ).

In a tava , heat oil.  Shallow fry the prepared cultlets till golden browned.

Serve hot with tomato sauce.


Linking this recipe to I'm The Star event on Vegetarian Food & Me blog

Steamed Drumstick leaves Cake

Ingredients :

Par-boiled Rice ( Kucchalakki ) – 1 cup

White Rice – ½ cup

Grated Coconut – ¼ cup

Drumstick leaves – 1 ½ cup

Red Chillies – 5 to 6

Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp

Tamarind  pulp – little

Water – As required

Salt – To taste

Method :

Soak par-boiled rice + white rice for 2 hours.

Making Masala :

Grind grated coconut + red chillies + turmeric powder + tamarind pulp + salt into a smooth paste. Before transferring it, add the soaked par-boiled rice and white rice to the mixer and grind into idly consistency batter by adding water as required.

Making Drumstick leaves cake batter :

In a bowl , add the ground masala and the drumstick leaves. Marinate evenly so that the leaves gets coated with the ground masala.

Baking the cakes :

Grease the baking dish with little oil evenly. Add the prepared batter to the baking dish and spread it evenly. Bake or steam for 15 minutes. 

CUBED VEGETABLES IN A GRAVY

Ingredients :

Carrot – 1 ( peeled and cut into small cubes )

Capsicum – 1 ( deseeded and cut into square pieces )

Cauliflower – 200 gms

Paneer – 7 to 8 cubed pieces

Onion – 2  ( 1 cut into thin long pieces + 1 cut into thin square pieces

Tomato – 2 ( pureed )

Tej patta / Bay leaf – 2 pieces

Chat Masala  - 1 tsp

Kasoori-Methi – 1 tsp

Red chilly  powder – 1 tsp

Garam masala powder – A pinch

Salt – To taste

Oil – ( 1 cup + 3 tsp )

Method :

In a kadai , deep fry the chopped capsicum + carrot + cauliflower + paneer cubes separately for a 3 minutes ( They should not change their colour. ) . Transfer them into a bowl and add chat masala + kasoori methi to it. Mix evenly.

In a pan , add 2 tsp of oil. After it gets heated, add long chopped onion pieces and bayleaf too it and sauté till onion gets golden browned. Let it aside to cool. After the onion mixture gets cooled, grind it into a paste without adding water. Keep aside.

In a pan , add a teaspoon of oil. After it gets heated add cubed onion pieces and fry for a second. Add the ground paste and sauté it for a minute. Then , add tomato puree, garam masala , red chilly powder and salt. Cook stirring occasionally till oil seperates. Finally , add  the deep fried vegetables and cook for 5 minutes.

Serve hot with rotis / chapattis.

My blog's first event's round-up

As the recipes submitted for the event were very innovative , I've seleted 5 recipes from 29 recipes .

THE WINNERS OF THE FIRST EVENT ON MY BLOG " INNOVATIVE PAKWAN " ARE 

Santosh Bangar of ' Santosh's Kitchen ' blog - winning dish - Vegetable Eggs 

http://santoshbangar.blogspot.com/2010/11/vegetable-egg-snack.html

Usha Bhat -Participant from Facebook - winning dish - Orange Rice

1 and 1/2 cups Basmati rice
1/2 cup Orange juice
Mustard - 1 tsp
Udid dal - 1 tsp
Chana Dal - 1 tsp
Red Chillies - 4
Haldi - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves
Oranges and Cashewnuts - for garnishing

=================
Cook the rice. Heat oil and splutter mustard seeds. Add the chana dal, udid dal, red chillies & curry leaves. Add Haldi & salt to taste.When the tempering has cooled, add the orange juice (don't add when hot otherwise the juice will turn bitter). Now add the rice and mix well, also add orange pieces. Mix well and add cashewnuts to garnish. 

Shobha of ' Food Mazaa ' blog - winning dish - Cheese & Macaroni Rolls

http://foodmazaa.blogspot.com/2008/12/cheese-macaroni-rolls.html 

Rekha Shivakumar of ' Reshkitchen ' blog - winning dish - Kothu chappathi with Onion Raita

http://www.resh-kitchen.blogspot.com/2012/01/kothu-chappathi-with-onion-raita.html 

• 
  

• Kokila Karthikeyan of 'Foodies Nest ' blog - winning dish - Cheese & Tomato paste Chapatti

http://kokilasindianfood.blogspot.com/2011/12/cheese-and-tomatoes-paste-chapatti.html

Soya Matar Shahi Korma

Ingredients :

Soya chunks – 1 packet

Peas – ½ cup

Onion – 1 ( finely chopped )

Cumin seeds – ½ tsp

Cumin powder – 1 tsp

Coriander powder – 2 tsp

Red chilly powder – To taste

Garam masala powder – A pinch

Salt – To taste

Oil – 2 tbsp

Coriander leaves – little ( finely chopped )

Water – As required

To grind into paste :

Tomatoes – 2 ( chopped )

Cinnamon – 1 stick

Cardamom – 2

Clove – 1

Ginger – 1 inch piece

Garlic  - 4 to 5

Coriander seeds – 1 tsp

Peppercorns – ½ tsp

Almonds – 4

Cashew-nuts – 4

Method :

Boil water . After the water boils turn it off and immediately put the soya chunks into boiled water for a minute. Then , remove the soya chunks and squeeze them gently to remove excess water. Chop them into half. Keep aside.

Grind tomatoes + clove + cardamom + cinnamon + peppercorns + ginger + garlic + coriander seeds + almonds + cashew-nuts into a smooth paste. Keep aside.

In a kadai , heat oil. Add cumin seeds to it. After it crackles , add chopped onion and fry till golden browned. Add the ground paste , cumin powder , red chilly powder , garam masala powder , coriander powder and salt. Mix evenly and add ½ cup of water. Bring to boil for 4 to 5 minutes. Add peas. Cover the kadai with lid and cook till peas get little soft. Add the soya chunks and mix evenly. Add chopped coriander leaves. Cover the kadai with lid again and cook for 5 minutes.

Serve hot with rotis / chapatis.

Matar - Kumbh ( Matar - Mushroom )

Ingredients:

Button Mushrooms - 15 to 20 ( cleaned and quartered )

Fresh Green Peas – ¾ cup

Dry Red Chillies ( Byadagi or Kashmiri Chillies preffered ) - 3 to 4 or accordiing to taste ( slit / halved )

Onion - 1 cup, finely chopped

Tomatoes - 3 , large ( pureed )

Cashewnut paste - 2-3 tbsp

Garlic Flakes - 3 to 4 ( thinly sliced )

Ginger - 1 inch piece ( finely chopped )

Jeera / Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp

Garam Masala – ½ tsp

Cumin powder – ½ tsp

Coriander powder – ½ tsp

Lime Juice – ½ tsp

Sugar – 1 tsp

Oil / Ghee – 1 ½ tbsp

Salt to taste

Method:

Heat ½ tbsp of oil in a pan and add a teaspoon of cumin seeds to it. When cumin starts to crackle , add finely chopped garlic and ginger to it. Sauté on medium flame till the garlic turns light golden. Then , add finely chopped onions and halved red chillies and sauté till onion turns golden in colour. Let it aside to cool. Once the onion mixture has cooled a bit, grind it into a smooth paste without adding water .

Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan. Add ground onion paste to it and fry on medium flame till the whole mixture becomes dry and light brown in colour. Now , add garam masala and fry for half a minute. Mix quartered mushrooms and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes. Add tomato puree, green peas, cashewnut paste, cumin powder , turmeric powder , coriander powder and salt to taste. Mix well. ( Add ¼ cup of water if required )

Cook covered for 10 minutes on low flame, stirring occasionally. Add little more water if required for the gravy consistency. Then ,remove the lid and let it cook for another 5 minutes so that the flavours to blend well.

Serve it hot, garnished with finely chopped coriander leaves.


Linking this recipe to Herb and Spice Event ( cilantro and cumin ) hosted at 

Erivum Puliyum