Chane ka saag (chickpea greens) in mustard based curry | chane ke saag ki sarson waali subzi..

Chane ka saag is not something many of us would come across very often. I know many of you wont even know this green leafy vegetable. This is the tender shoots of the chickpea plant, it is plucked before the plant bears pods, plucking or pruning the plant helps it grow thicker, bear more branches and  more fruit while it grows. See how the greens look in the dumplings recipe here. My grandmother used to say so fondly about chana (chickpeas), it is eaten in so many forms, so many ways. Being a staple crop all across central India, we see many different recipes originating from all over the places.

This one is a thin gravy curry that has a base of mustard paste. The chickpea greens (chane ka saag) is not chopped and is left as it is after trimming the hard base. See the picture here, how the trimmed ready to use saag looks. This curry used to be a winter regular at my parent's place, especially when my grandmother would be with us. She was brought up in Bengal and all kinds of mustard based curries were her favorites. We used to love them too but she was the one who would plan and get the mustard finely ground on the stone Silbatta (flat type mortar and pestle), clean the greens and then sometimes cook it too. Simple rustic looking curries with great flavors. She used to cook a similar one with small oblong Aubergines too, something I haven't cooked for a very very long time.

I used mustard powder this time, this was after one of the readers suggested that the powder also gives good results. It was very convenient and the taste was exactly the same when a wet paste of mustard is used. The consistency was a little thinner than the wet paste but that is not such a big concern if you like the taste. The mustard powder doesn't emulsify nicely into the cooking gravy, as seen in the picture but he taste remains the same. You could add a tablespoon of almond meal to the gravy to make it creamy like it comes with a wet mustard paste, or just smash some of the potato cubes after cooking.

ingredients..

potatoes with skin one large or 2 medium (about 150 gm)
chane ka saag (chickpea greens) 200 gm
tomatoes halved and sliced into half moons 1 cup
mustard powder 2 heaped tbsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
red chilly powder 1/2 tsp or to taste
salt to taste
mustard oil 1 tbsp
fenugreek seeds 1/4 tsp

procedure...

Clean the potatoes by scrubbing all the dirt as we are using potatoes with skin. New potatoes are used for this, quite obviously in India as both chane ka saag and naya alu comes in the same season. Cut the potatoes in thick wedges or cubes.

Heat the oil in a pan or pressure cooker pan (I used pressure cooker) and tip in the fenugreek seeds. Let them get just fragrant and pinkish brown, they turn bitter if they get burnt so take care of that. Add the potatoes immediately. Toss and stir fry for a minute on high flame.

Add the powdered spices , toss to coat well for about 30 seconds and then add the tomatoes and salt to taste. Toss and cook for another minute or so.

Add all the chane ka saag , add a cup of water and cover the lid. If cooking in a pan, you have to add some more water and let the curry simmer for about 20 minutes. In pressure cooker, just till the pressure whistle blows. Take off the burner and let it cool to open the lid.

Adjust seasoning and consistency and serve hot. I like it as a soup too. This curry tastes great with plain boiled rice and since I am not much a rice eater and still want a large quantity of this curry, this is my way of enjoying it. In a soup mug with loads of the chcikpea greens , few potato cubes and just 2 tbsp of boiled rice.

It can be served as a side dish with another sookhi subzi , raita, chutneys etc for company.

The greens in this curry have a wonderful flavor when combined with mustard. When eaten raw, the chane ka saag tastes quite savory and can be added to salads too, cooked in a curry like this, you will find yourself fishing for more chane ka saag in the curry. Tomatoes make it a little tart or you are supposed to use amchoor if the tomatoes are not tart. So this tartness and presence of mustard makes the greens taste slightly like a pickle. I just love it.

This curry is definitely a Bihari or Eastern UP specialty  but the influence is clearly from Bengal. The Bengalis make mustard based curries differently though. More pungent ans some sugar used to balance. This curry has the pungency balanced with tartness of tomatoes.

You can use raw Plantains, slit aubergines or flat beans instead of chane ka saag in this recipe. Or just make it with the potatoes. I am sure it will be liked by all, especially if you love mustard oil and mustard seeds seasoning.

I would love to hear your feedback on this.

Aloo aur harey pyaz ki subzi...

Aloo aur hare pyaz ki subzi has been frequent winter subzi in my kitchen and the recipe has not changed ever since I started cooking it. It is actually the exact same recipe as my mother used to cook and we both love it immensely. Hara pyaz is the same spring onions we get fresh in the markets as soon as the winters start in North India. This is one green leafy vegetable that is always there in my fridge. More so in recent times when the husband has started carrying a lunch box to office. He loves aloo aur hare pyaz ki subzi and it gets ready within 10 minutes, doesn't make the lunch box messy with a gravy and tastes great even when cold. What more I would wish for? Oh and it makes a standalone breakfast dish for me sometimes, may be with a boiled egg on the side. Yes, potatoes and eggs, both are life savers.

ingredients...

boiled potatoes 2 large (it should be 1.5 cup when cubed)
roughly diced tomatoes 1 cup
chopped green parts of spring onion 3 cups
finely chopped ginger 1 tbsp or more
finely chopped green chilies 1 tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
cumin seeds 2 tsp
black pepper powder 1 tsp
salt to taste
mustard oil 1 tbsp or a bit more

procedure...

It is great if you have boiled potatoes in the fridge, otherwise just boil them in the microwave or whatever way you prefer. Cold boiled potatoes are suited for this recipe best, but you can go ahead with freshly boiled potatoes as well.

Heat the oil in a pan and tip in the cumin seeds, wait till they crackle. Then add the chopped ginger and green chilies  wait till they are fried but not dehydrated, add the cubed potatoes, turmeric powder and salt at once. Mix well and stir fry till the potatoes are coated well and slightly pinkish at the edges.

Add the diced tomatoes, mix and cook till they get mushy, it takes about 2-3 minutes.

Add the pepper powder and chopped greens of spring onions and just stir and cook till the greens get wilted and mixed well with the potatoes. Looking like the picture.

Do not cook after adding the greens for more than a couple of minutes.

You might like to add a pinch of amchoor powder in this stir fry or sookhi subzi. Or may be some red chilly powder too sometimes. Adjust seasoning when the subzi is still in the stove and mix well.

Serve hot or cold, the subzi tastes great with just anything. As sandwich stuffing, as a paratha stuffing or just as it is like I do. Make it spicier and it suits a plain daal chawal or khichdi meals well, just with a side of a raita or nothing I say.

Simple home cooked meals are very much doable on a daily basis. Stop eating your lunch in the office canteen and ordering your diner every day. Would you?

jeera aloo ...potatoes to please someone...

Jeera alu was made after repeated threats and requests, I finally gave in to the alu craving of the husband. He feels deprived of potatoes all the time and I have to treat him with an exclusive potato meal sometimes. Yes, a potato dish which can be served and enjoyed on it's own. No side dishes are required with this "king of vegetables".

Potato becomes the king with jeera aloo most definitely.

The cumin infused cubes of potatoes, if I ever dare to translate the flavors...

And don't worry you all. You are not going to have any starch poisoning by watching all these pictures I have uploaded one after the other.

Jeera aloo is not a favorite of millions for nothing. Potatoes are known to take on any kind of seasoning and spicing well and even desserts do so very well with potatoes. Have you heard about aloo ka halwa (a halwa made with potatoes). That is one more reason to rejoice for the halwa lovers.

Not me.

But jeera aloo is somethings that makes me take second helpings even though I cook it rarely.

ingredients

boiled potatoes 4 nos. ..
boil them in the pressure cooker or in a pan. Microwave cooked potatoes work well for the jeera aloo only when the potatoes are new, the winter potatoes.
ghee or butter 1 tbsp (no compromises here)
cumin seeds 2-3 tsp
cumin powder 1/2 tsp
black pepper powder 1/2 tsp
red chilly flakes 1/2 tsp
chopped green chilly 1 tsp
1/4 tsp turmeric powder (optional)
chopped coriander leaves 1 tbsp
salt to taste

The coriander leaves used here are from my garden and this dish was made with the season's last few leaves of coriander, the needle shaped mature leaves of coriander bear the most concentrated flavors  it made the aloo jeera magical this time.

procedure

Once you have boiled, peeled and cubed potatoes, there is not much to do as this is a quick chore.

Quick to be vanished from the table too, quick to bring smiles .... quick reactions...you get the drift.

Heat the ghee or butter in a kadai. I used ghee and butter both, best of the both worlds. Let the ghee and butter melt and then add the jeera, that is cumin seeds and let it splutter softly.

Immediately add the cubed potatoes followed by the powdered spices and salt to taste. Toss to mix and coat everything on the potato cubes. keep tossing and stirring the potatoes to get lightly pink at a few spots. Do not brown the potatoes otherwise it will not inhale the flavors of the exclusive spicing.

Once the potatoes are pinkish at a few spots, add the chopped green chillies and the chopped coriander leaves. Toss well and bring the pan off heat.

Serve immediately.

PS : If you are not using coriander leaves you might like to add a pinch of amchoor powder or a dash of lime juice, and a pinch of coriander powder along with the other powdered spices...
The coriander leaves have a hint of citrus along with an earthy flavor.

haridwar wali kachori aur aloo ki subzi ....

Any kind of kachori aloo ki subzi makes me weak in the knees and you all know it well how we waited to have a divine taste of this luxury in Haridwar . I was so smitten by the taste that I had to repeat that experience in my own style, low fat style that is.

Don't tell me a fried recipe can't be low fat. I say lowest possible fat ...okay ?

So when I do such things at home I do it in the lowest possible amount of fat and since frying cannot be substituted with anything for a kachori, the only fatty indulgence of this kachori is a quick swim in hot oil. It would be better if you know that a firm dough of whole wheat flour, the kachori stuffed with care so that it doesn't get punctured and a quick microwaving of the kachori before the hot oil swim makes it quite low on fat content, believe me friends !!

making the kachoris...

Make a stiff dough with whole wheat flour with salt to taste and some ajwain seeds thrown in. Slightly coarse wheat flour is used for these kachoris. 

A bowl of soaked mung or urad daal with skin (usually it is husked urad daal)is ground with ginger, green chilies and a bit of garam masala. I microwaved this mung daal paste, stirring it 4-5 times after every minute and the paste becomes the consistency of the dough. In the authentic recipe this paste is fried (bhuno) in oil till it gets brown and dehydrated. dry frying this paste results in a smoky flavor but I preferred a low fat spicy version and gave a miss to the smokiness.

A quick tip : do not add any water while making the daal paste and add the seasonings according to your tolerance to heat. Here is how the dough and the stuffing look like.

The stiff dough and the paste to show you how they should look to 'complement each other', both should be the same consistency so that the stuffed kachoris do not split or get punctured while frying.

Now pinch off small portions of dough , make a bowl of it and place a little daal mixture into it . Now seal the dough , flatten the resulting ball and roll into a thick disk . 

The rolled kachori is first microwaved for a minute before going into hot oil directly, so keep the kadai with oil ready and hot when you start stuffing, rolling and microwaving the kachoris one by one . 

Do the stuffing and rolling beforehand if you can't handle all the four activities at a time . Microwaving and frying will be easy to handle in the second step.

Now the ingredients of the aloo subzi ...

2-3 large boiled potatoes

2 dry red chilies
2 green cardamoms
15 cloves
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp black pepper corns
an inch stick of cinnamon
2 bay leaves
 2-3 green chilies broken
2 black cardamoms
2 tsp of everyday curry masala
1 tsp turmeric powder 
2 tsp mustard oil
a pinch of asafoetida
salt to taste

procedure...

Peel and cube the potatoes, keep aside.

Heat oil in a kadai and throw in the asafoetida, followed quickly by all the spices except those typed in bold. You must have noticed that the quantity of the cloves is much more than a normal curry but that was the highlight of the aloo subzi we had there in Haridwar , and that was the reason why i liked this aloo curry so much . feel free to reduce the amount of cloves if it is too much for you , it is a hot spicy curry with very strong notes of cloves.

Add the spices typed in bold and quickly add the potatoes mashing them while adding to the pan . Thrash with a spatula and mix well.

I added finely chopped green coriander at this point as I was not pouring any green coriander chutney over the kachori aloo like Haridwar . Make chutney if you feel like, I served hemp seeds and coriander greens chutney on the side it this time.

Add enough water to cover the mix and some more to make the curry almost watery... or as thin or thick you like it. Add salt to taste and let the curry cook on low flame till a nice cloves aroma wafts through the kitchen.

The curry is watery, the way I like it. With a gentle aroma of green coriander. The first notes hitting the tongue will be cloves, and the curry will be hot. Very hot but you wont be able to resist second helping I warn you.

You could choose to break the kachoris and dunk them into this bowl of aloo curry. We had it served on the side and dunked small pieces of kachori in the aloo curry as we sipped some curry like soup too. This is one addictive aloo subzi to be served with pooris and kachoris, especially for those who love spicy food.

Yummy hot way to start a weekend, healthy at the same time.

A kachori can't be healthier than this. I hope Pawan kashyap, the kachori wala at gau ghaat, Haridwar is not reading this and I hope he reads my post going all ga ga about his kachoris....

shalgam aloo matar ki subzi ... turnips and peas curry with potatoes..

Shalgam alu matar is one of the simplest curries I make whenever I am pressed for time. It doesn't need much peeling and fine chopping and if there are shelled peas in the fridge this curry can be cooked in a jiffy. I don't add potatoes to this curry always but new poatoes of the season give this curry a nice thickness if you add a few.

This style of curry is inspired by the subzi sold by the kachori walas of Banaras which is a perfect accompaniment to pooris. The subzi of every kachori wala is different and yet all of them are equally delicious. There is one more similarity when it comes to the subzi of the kachori walas, all those subzis are made super fast with minimal spicing.

Roughly chopped vegetables dunked in a smoky tempering of some hot and aromatic spices and cooked with water till they turn mushy. I have actually watched them cooking. What to do I can't stop myself watching all of this stuff whenever I get a chance.

This version of the curry is adapted for home cooking and hence the pressure cooker is put to use saving time for convenience..

ingredients...

2-3 large turnips cut roughly into cubes
1 medium sized potato cut into cubes (I prefer to keep the skin on)
a cup of fresh green peas (frozen will be good too but anyways turnips and peas are available fresh in the same season)
1 large tomato chopped roughly
1 tbsp of everyday curry powder (or coriander,cumin and pepper powders in 2:1:1 ratio plus a couple of bay leaves )
1 tsp dry ginger powder or 2 tsp of grated fresh ginger root
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp or more red chilly powder
a pinch of asafoetida
2 tsp of mustard oil
salt to taste

The ingredient list looks long but it is very convenient to throw them into the cooker one by one and just cover the lid to cook...

procedure....

Heat oil in the pressure cooker pan and throw in the asafoetida. Just as the hings becomes frothy add the *everyday curry powder*  and turmeric n red chilly powders and put the flame off if you feel the heat could burn the powders. It is actually better to let the oil smoke then take the pan off the heat and then add the powders...

Add the dry or fresh ginger as per your choice. I grate a chunk of dry ginger over the pan and it's super quick, no running to fridge, peeling and grating the ginger and the flavors are better than the store bought dry ginger powder.

Put the pan back to heat. Add all the chopped vegetables and peas, toss them to coat well, add salt and enough water to make a mushy curry. Cover the pressure cooker and cook till the first whistle blows up. Let the pressure escape on it's own, open the lid and stir the curry lightly with a ladle so that cooked turnips and tomatoes get mushed up. You may like a dash of amchoor powder added at this stage, check seasonings and add amchoor if you feel like.

Serve hot with chapatis, crisp parathas or hot pooris for a Sunday breakfast.

The only masala used in the curry is my ever so useful everyday curry powder. This curry powder has been named as a magic curry powder by a friend and has been adopted by many of my real life friends . The spice mix has a nice earthy and citrus y blend of flavors and the bay leaves added to it add an extra touch . Very versatile especially for the north Indian stir fries and curries .

The lovely blogger couple Sarah and Brad of naughty taste buds have adopted this curry powder and have posted about it too with pictures better than mine. They are using it so creatively for their daily food..see here.....

This simple curry which reminds you that yummy meals can be quick and convenient at the same time. I make a similar curry with halved parvals ( pointed guards) and that is a nice and light summer time curry without the peas. That parval curry is a regular for dinner with chapatis, an ideal summer dinner ........

The thought of summer makes me uncomfortable as the winters days are dwindling fast. Posting a series of turnip curries is my achievements in the season as I have been so occupied to come to my blogs.

But still there is some time to enjoy turnips before they vanish under the scorching sun, make this shalgam alu matar ki subzi and see how delicious it is...

shalgam bhein matar ki subzi...turnips with lotus stem with peas ...

A quick sabzi if you have a skill or help for chopping vegetables really fast . As soon as the veggies are chopped this curry is very quick and i love the mixed flavors of green coriander leaves , green peas and turnips together . Potatoes and lotus stem remain neutral against these flavorful and aromatic ingredients and balance the curry with nutrition and off course taste wise too ...
 

Once you are done with this chopping it's a matter of 5 minutes if you have ginger garlic paste and fresh tomato puree . I make these fresh and takes me another 5 minutes ...

ingredients...

2 large turnips
1 large fat lotus stem
1 medium sized potato
1 cup of green peas ( preferably fresh )
2 large red tomatoes ( preferably desi or heirloom )
1 inch piece of ginger
2-3 garlic cloves
2-3 green chillies
1 tbsp of everyday curry powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1-2 tbsp of chopped green coriander leaves
1 tbsp of mustard oil
1 tsp of cumin seeds
salt to taste

procedure...

Make a paste of ginger garlic and green chillies and later in the same mixie jar make a coarse paste of tomatoes . Chop the vegetables as shown in the picture...


Heat the oil in the pressure cooker pan and throw in the cumin seeds . Wait as the cumin seeds pop and get aromatic , add the ginger garlic paste , turmeric powder and curry powder in quick succession . Add salt and keep tossing the pan to fry the spice mix till it gets aromatic ....




Add the potatoes , lotus stem and turnips to the frying mix and toss again to coat the pieces .. keep tossing the vegetables for a couple of minutes for a quick searing .




Add the green peas and enough water to cover the veggies ...
Close the lid and let it pressure cook just till the first whistle blows .
Let the pressure escape and add the chopped coriander leaves immediately after opening the lid , cover the lid again for a couple of minutes and serve hot with chapatis or plain parathas...


This is a curry with thin soupy gravy and the flavors come from the green coriander , peas , tomatoes and fresh turnips........ the winter goodness of all the fresh veggies.

Very healthy and delicious . All those who do not appreciate turnips fort their smell ( i am not one of them ) will be delighted with this curry as the turnips almost taste like potatoes in this one .... very unlike the gogji nadir where the turnips take a center stage of flavors....

Another curry with turnips and potatoes is lined up cooked with a different procedure ... a quicker version than this 1 minute wonder .... minus the chopping time if you are slow :)

Check out the next milder and mushy curry which prompts even the turnip haters to have second helpings...

Indian flat breads : aloo kulcha, sourdough or yeast flat bread stuffed with potatoes

Aloo kulcha or alu kulcha, a baked flatbread stuffed with potatoes that can become a favourite if made well. The recipe is easy to follow and that makes it even better.

This is the third post in the Indian flat breads series. There will be more flat breads in the future but these three were prepared in the last two weeks or so and are being posted in one go. This aloo kulcha is the most favorite kind of flat bread here, along with the paneer kulcha. Needless to say this is the most repeated type of kulcha here in my home .

The dough ingredients and procedure is same as the whole wheat kulcha. The stuffing is made with boiled potatoes, finely diced onions, chopped green chillies to taste, chopped green coriander leaves (or methi leaves sometimes) and salt n pepper to taste.

Stuff the potato mixture into the dough balls, it's better if you can fill large amount of stuffing into the kulcha as it comes out more flavorful. The amount of stuffing should be a bit more than the size of the dough ball. It's not difficult if you take care that the stuffing consistency is similar to the dough consistency, it is stuffed with ease and then it is flattened with ease too ... with the help of your wet fingers of course.

Bits of stuffing peeping through the dough layer looks good and tastes good too. Spread the flattened kulcha on the hot griddle in one quick motion .

And wait till one side is browned and the kulcha comes out of the griddle easily. It can be baked over naked flame like the plain kulcha but if it is too heavy due to the stuffing it falls down in the process. So using a wire mesh is convenient....

Repeat with the kulchas asI know you would want to make many of them.

This particular kulcha is great even when cold and may be a great tiffin box option with suitable side dishes. I make empanadas (baked in the oven) with the same dough and stuffing and that is great for kids tiffin box, easy to hold and eat while talking to friends.

I served it with methi matar malai, a creamy curry with fenugreek leaves and fresh peas. The husband loves to dip the aloo kulchas in fresh creamy curds of fresh malai and he wants a bowl of malai (preferably) of dahi along with it.

See how the kulcha is crisp on the outside and soft and spongy inside...

I like big chunks of potatoes and not too fine onion , you can keep the potatoes finely mashed or whatever way you like. The recipe just needs to illustrate the process of baking these kulchas over gas flame basically .... the stuffing can be varied and adjusted to taste .. 

These tips and tricks to make great kulcha or naan will be handy whenever you start to make these alu kulchas. Do let me know if you try this recipe.

Enjoy...

kalonji ...... the masala stuffed vegetables...

In the eastern part of UP there are a lot of spicy hot fried vegetable preparations to go with a daal-chawal lunch . Kalonji is the name for masala stuffed vegetables ,and the vegetables used for this are parval ( pointed guard ) , karela ( bitter guard ) , bhindi ( okra ) , baby sponge guards , baby egg plants etc. While the spices for stuffing are usually different for different vegetables , like my mom used to make a mustard spice mix for baby egg plants , a onion and raw mango based spice mix for karelas and a ginger-garlic-onion and garam masala mix for parval , bhindi , baby sponge guards and potatoes .

Potatoes are halved and slit along the length and then the furrows are stuffed with the same spice mix and they taste really good .  Unlike other stuffing where a paneer , boiled potato , chick pea mixture or coconut mix based masala is used for the stuffing , this kalonji uses this spicy hot garam masala mix . Stuffed in small quantities the spice mix makes the vegetable really smoky hot .... i made it with parval and potatoes this time but the same stuff can be used for any vegetable you wish .


ingredients for the spice mixture...

onion 1 no.
garlic 8-10 cloves ( indian garlic)
green chillies 3-4 nos.
whole dry rad chilly 1 no. ( or more if you like it hot )
ginger 1 inch piece
turmeric powder 1tsp
coriander seeds 2 tsp
cumin seeds 2 tsp
black pepper corns 2 tsp
cloves 3 nos
black and green cardamom 1 no. each
half a star anise or 4-5 petals of the whole star anise
bay leaves 2 nos ..scissor cut in small bits
amchoor powder 1-2 tsp ( according to taste )
salt to taste 
 mustard oil 1 tbsp
procedure....

Make a coarse paste of onion and keep aside .

Make a fine paste of all the other ingredients except mustard oil , salt and amchoor . Keep aside.

Heat oil in a thick base kadai and pour the onion paste in it . Fry till the onion gets shiny and soft , add the other paste and fry on low heat for a good 5 minutes .

Add salt ( just a bit more than needed for the masala paste ) and amchoor powder and fry the masala paste till the oil starts spluttering a bit . The masala paste starts sticking to the pan while frying but keep scraping and turning to roast it well. A nice aroma of bhuna masala is an indicator to put off the flame.

Now prepare the vegetables for stuffing. about 8 parvals and 4 halves of potatoes can be stuffed with this much of masala paste , but it depends on how much masala paste you would like inside each kalonji ...

Scrape the parval and make a side slit . Emptying the contents is not needed but if there are seeds they are better removed.Blanch in salted water and keep aside .

Peel and cut the potato in two flat halves , now make two or three slits to make it look like the picture . rub salt over it or blanch along with the parval.

Stuff the masala inside the parval and in the furrows in the potato halves.

Shallow fry in a flay base pan using minimal amount of mustard oil. Do it on very low flame and keep turning the vegetables so that they get cooked and browned on all sides .

Some of the masala paste seems to burst out of the seems but it is okay to let it be like that as the over browned masala tastes great with these kalonji....

With hot daal chawal topped with some ghee ... this is the ultimate side dish for most people of eastern UP ....... stuffed vegetables are made in many more ways in other parts o the country but this is the age old recipe of kalonji .... or tawa fry as some people prefer to call it now....

I like it rolled up in a kathi roll too with some fresh salad ........

plantain n potatoes fry | fasting food made easy...

Yes the raw banana or plantain, commonly called as kachha kela can be made into a quick fry like potato finger chips. After the yam chips fit for a nice chai time snack here comes a fry which can be had as meal during fasting with a bowl of fresh curds .

This kind of a meal is an easy one step recipe involving shallow frying . The oil content is low as the shallow fried slices are drained on kitchen tissue .

I used unpeeled new baby potatoes and thinly peeled (using a potato peeler) raw plantain . For one serving you need one plantain and 2-3 baby potatoes .

Slice both the vegetables into 1 cm thin roundels .

Slit one or two green chillies and chop a handful of curry leaves .

Heat oil in a kadai and throw in the slit green chillies and curry leaves first in the oil , quickly followed by potato and plantain slices together.

Shallow fry them in medium low hot oil ( ghee or peanut oil are used during fasting ), till lightly browned . they remain soft inside and lightly crisp on the surface. Add salt ( rock salt for fasting ) to taste . Sprinkle turmeric water a few times while shallow frying the slices for a nice yellow color.

The slices need to turned and stirred continuously as while shallow frying they may get burnt on one side and stay raw on the other.

With a bowl of fresh curds , it is a nice meal , ready within 10 minutes starting from slicing the vegetables. This not a fattening meal as both the vegetables are complex carbohydrates and they are cooked along with their skins . Fat content is low and curry patta and green chillies make it even more healthy. I do not discard the curry patta and the green chillies visible in the picture as they taste great with the slices.

This fry can be a great side dish for any meal , not just for fasting.....

aloo gobi with flavors of nigella.......

Nigella seeds have become my favorite tempering spice lately...thanks to two of my bong friends.......i have been using this tempering in many ways since i started using it to make hot n achari style preparations.......

First came this fish fry...mirchi waali..

and the prawns in nigella n green chilly sauce..

then came mushrooms with spring onions

and then....turmeric soaked tofu n spinach stir fry

Being quite comfortable with this seasoning now i know how to handle it to develop new flavors..........

When you have cauliflowers this fresh.........right from the plant , you need to do justice to the freshness .....

You guessed right , fresh gobi meets nigella and some more seasonings of course to make this wonderful stir fry........i used the tender leaves and stems of the cauliflower too as they were so fresh and i don't want to waste the produce of my garden....my own hard work.....

I have posted a few recipes with this nigella tempering and turmeric red chilly seasoning earlier too but this one includes some more ingredients and as expected , it takes that seasoning to a new level........the hot spice mix paired with fresh n flavorful cauliflower florets make a stunning burst of flavors......

I made this stir fry about a couple of months back and it was repeated many times , the cauliflowers available in this season are good too ( the end of winter gobi is horrible ) and the stir fry turned well with them too......

ingredients...

to chop..

cauliflowers separated into florets 400 gm
one big onion chopped finely (i used my chopper)

to make a paste...
an inch piece of ginger
5 cloves of garlic
3-4 red chillies
turmeric powder
cumin seeds 2 tsp
black pepper corns 2 tsp

for tempering..
nigella seeds 1 tsp
fennel seeds 1 tsp
fenugreek seeds 1/4 tsp
mustard oil 1 tbsp

preparation.....

heat oil in a thick base pan and throw in the tempering spices..

as soon as the seeds crackle add the chopped onions with  pinch of salt and fry till a few of the onions get browned.......not all of them.

add the paste and fry on medium flame till the oil separates and the spices get cooked and aromatic...

add the stems and tender leaves of the cauliflower if using ......and cook for a couple of minutes........

now add the cauliflower florets , salt to taste ....... mix well and cook on a very low flame ........let the florets get browned and cooked ............do not overcook and it should remain firm and a bit crunchy..........

It can be a side dish or a main dish according to the kind of spread you want..........good with rotis or with dal chawal.......quite a hot subzi and very very different from any punjabi style gobi........has a hint of bengali preparations but not completely bengali..........i loved it and so did everybody else......a balanced blending of flavors .......fusing a punju n a bong gobi subzi.....it was fun.

hari tahiri akhrot ki chutny ke saath

Tahiri or teheri is a rice preparation cooked along with vegetables, a perfect one pot meal which is usually served with raita. It is cooked like a pulav but addition of a lot of vegetables makes it healthier. I remember I used to cook tahiri quite often in my hostel too and girls used to take a dabba for their boyfriends much to my annoyance :-)

It has been a childhood favorite for me and my husband both but the flavors we like in a tahiri are different unfortunately. He likes his tahiri little bland, with potatoes and peas essentially and aromatic with loads of ghee. While I like it very spicy with lots of vegetables into it, no potatoes, mostly greens like spinach, sowa, methi etc.

Needless to say I have to make it somewhat in between, not too spicy not to bland and  I find it very easy to sneak in a lot of veggies into it by adding vegetables of different types, like here the potatoes and cauliflower pieces retain their shape while the spinach and dill greens get wilted and mixed up with rice to give it a nice green color. This kind of a preparation is a good way to make one eat a lot of vegetables without even realizing.

I would emphasize that It is actually a great way of eating a lot of vegetables with small quantity of rice. Sometimes I add paneer or soy nuggets when there is no other source of protein in the meal. But here the akhrot ki chutney fills that gap.

This time we enjoyed it with akhrot ki chutney which is a kashmiri specialty. I used to love it at one of my aunt's place where it was served with biryanis and elaborate Kashmiri meals. Later on I made many versions of this akhrot ki chutny adding ginger and green chillies to it because I did not remember exactly how my aunt used to make it. I had apparently lost the recipe.

But recently I found this recipe by Gaurav and it tasted exactly like that one I had been craving for and it's much simpler too. It is a regular chutnyy at my place this season (we eat more walnuts in winters out of habit ).........

ingredients for the tahiri ...

basmati rice 1/2 cup
cauliflower florets 10-12 nos.
potatoes cubed 2 nos.
green chillies chopped 2 tbsp
ginger julienne 2 tbsp
spinach leaves chopped finely ( or processed ) 3 cups
dill leaves chopped 1 cup
shahi jeera 1/2 tsp
cumin seeds 1 tsp
black pepper corns crushed coarsely 1 tbsp
star anise 1 flower
cinnamon stick 1 no.
cloves 4 nos.
black cardamom crushed lightly 1 no.
salt to taste
ghee 1 tbsp
everyday curry powder ( or a mix of coriander, cumin, black pepper n bay leaf  in 4:2:2:1 ratio powdered together ) 2 tsp

procedure for tahiri...

Heat oil in a pan, preferably a stock pot or a thick flat base pan. Throw in all the whole spices and the cut vegetables together and stir fry till the aroma of whole spices comes through and the veggies look slightly translucent ..

Add the green chillies, ginger julienne and the rice and stir fry till the rice gets fragrant, about 2-3 minutes, add the powder spices  mix well and turn a couple of times and then tip in the chopped greens. Mix well and let the greens wilt and mixed up...

Add salt and a cup of boiling water (double the quantity of rice), mix well and cover, let it cook on lowest possible heat for 10 minutes or till cooked. Let it rest for another 5 minutes and serve hot with a raita or salad and chutney...

ingredients for akhrot ki chutny...
walnuts 100 gm
curds 150 gm
salt to taste
red chilly powder 1-2 tsp as per taste 
water if required to adjust the consistency

to make the chutny... just powder the walnuts in a mixie first , them mix all the other ingredients and give it a quick mix...it's ready to be savored with a tahiri , a biryani or any kind of tandoori tikka etc...addition of grated radish to this chutny tastes yummy but it should be added at the time of serving as it can not be stored in the fridge....without adding radish the chutny can stay fresh for a couple of days in fridge.....

Enjoy a simple and healthy tahiri with a nutty hot chutney that can be used like a dip for crackers or vegetable crudites too.

With this hari tahiri this chutney feels like a perfect companion, much better than the hostel wali tahiri.

ras wala kaddu

kaddu ki ras wali sabzi, rasedaar kaddu, vrat wala kaddu or pumpkin curry .......whatever you call this kaddu ki sabzi , it is so tasty that you'll end up eating the sabzi like a soup........i made it with plain puris and did not count how many helpings we took of the sabzi...........

i have posted a few more versions of kaddu ki sabzi earlier as i like the this veggie very much..........it is easier to cook, healthy as it is packed with loads of Vit.A and fiber and the most important fact is that it can be made in minimal amounts of oil........with puris it is an ideal combination traditionally too......the recipe is simple and the taste comes from clever use of few common ingredients..........read on the recipe............

ingredients

pumpkin ( with green skin and yellow flesh) cubed 400 gm
potatoes cubed with skin 200 gm
dry ginger(sonth) 1 inch piece
dry whole red chillie 5-6 nos.
( the use of dry ginger powder and red chilly powder is convenient but the taste in this curry comes from freshly ground ingredients)
turmeric powder 1 tsp
salt to taste
amchoor or dry mango powder 2 tsp
asafoetida a pinch
rai seeds or mustard seeds 1 tsp
mustard oil 1 tsp

procedure

heat the oil in a pressure cooker , throw in the asafoetida and the rai seeds and let the splutter.............add the cubed veggies and salt n turmeric powders at once and toss to let them all mixed up n cook for a while.......add the grind sonth and red chilly together in spice grinder n add to the cooker.....toss well and add about a liter of water , place the lid and cook till one whistle and it's done........just add the amchoor powder when you open the pressure cooker, mix well to get the veggies a bit mashed up and serve hot with puris.

missed taking pictures of puris with it as they disappeared as soon as they came out of the kadai.........the combination of these two can't let you wait.....for anything.......



it is better to make this sabzi ahead of time as it tastes better after about an hour of getting cooked....there is a lot of water in this sabzi and veggie pieces seem to be submerged in the 'ras'.......but believe me you will fall short of 'ras' this time.....just try....

parwal ki bhujia or aaloo parwal ki lehsuni bhujia..

This is a very simple stir fry vegetable which is called bhujia in UP. Parwal or parval is pointed gourd, also known as patal or potol. This small gourd looks like a miniature snake guard and is considered cooling and detoxifying according to  Ayurveda.

This sukhi sabzi can be a side dish with daal chawal lunch or it can be a main accompaniment to roti or paratha. I remember carrying this bhujia to school in my lunch box, with tikona parathas of course.

This is one of the few recipes I make in exactly the same way as my mom used to make it. I usually keep experimenting and improving my recipes on the ground of health and nutrition, but this bhujia is the best representation of healthy, tasty and easy everyday Indian food and keeps repeating in my kitchen every summer.

Parval comes only during summers, I have tried growing parval many times but haven't been successful yet.

ingredients
(2 large servings)

250 gm parvals
100 gms potatoes with skin
5-6 fat cloves of garlic or a few more if you like
dry red chillies or green chillies to taste
salt to taste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1.5 tbsp mustard oil
1/4 tsp methi and cumin seeds each

procedure

Just scrape the parvals using a paring knife, cut the parwals lengthwise in four pieces or six and some potatoes too in thin wedges.

Heat mustard oil in a pan, throw in a tsp of methi and jeera seeds each and when they crackle put the parwals first.

Stir fry till they are pinkish and then add the potato wedges and fry till they are pinkish too. Add salt to taste and turmeric powder is added along with a generous amount of garlic and green chilly paste. This paste is the main taste maker in this bhujia and it is always made in mustard oil.

After adding all these, stir fry and slow cook  till the aroma of cooked garlic is predominant and the bhujia is ready.

I make this bhujia in minimum oil. Just about 1.5 to 2 tbsp for 250 gm parwal and 100 gm potatoes, unpeeled new potatoes taste best.

It is easier to make it in more oil as it fries well but when using less oil you just have to be patient with the frying. A heavy bottomed pan and low heat works best for low oil version. Taste is the same for both the versions.

I prefer serving this bhujia with daal chawal for our lunch. It makes a healthy lunch with daal and boiled rice, plain curds and papad goes well with it but I like just this bhujia with my daal chawal for the rich garlic pleasure, nothing else is required between my dal chawal and bhujia.

I like the crunchy methi seeds in this bhujia too, if you don't like the slight bitter crunch of methi seeds, you can omit that and use only cumin seeds for tempering.

I am telling you one of my hack for this recipe too. Sometimes I use a past of garlic powder, chilli powder and turmeric powder mixed together with a little water to make this recipe too and it has never disappointed me. Slow cooking is the key in this recipe, keep the gas on low flame, keep stirring every couple of minutes and this bhujia will cook perfectly.

Do let me know of you try this recipe. It gives me immense pleasure to introduce the recipes from my homeland and the pleasure multiplied when you all find the recipes useful...