masoor daal ka nimona | a winter stew with lentils and cauliflowers..

Masoor daal ka nimona is one of those winter stews made in eastern UP that uses seasonal vegetables and lentils in it's full glory. Daals cooked with vegetables and mild spicing would be a good idea to pack in everything in just one dish and have some hot chapatis or rice going with it. Of course there always is some raw salad and some winter pickles on the side for a busy homemaker. Green garlic shoots pickle is one of them enjoyed with such meals.

These stews are simple homely flavors, cooked with ease, especially useful for someone who has to cook for a large family or in a limited time, or both. I have tasted many versions of this stew, some had the cauliflowers all muddled up with the daal, some had a few bits floating here and there and some had loads of green peas in it too. Some people added fried lentil vadis to this stew to make them more flavorful. All of them are tasty owing to the taste of seasonal vegetables and liberal use of coriander greens.

Actually it was my sister who reminded me of this nimona. She was cooking this one day and called me for something. And then she asked me what was cooking. She was not impressed by whatever I was cooking that day and announced with a gleaming voice that she had made masoor daal ka gobhi matar wala nimona. That too with added vadis. The dinner was decided then and there. Such things make you crave for the long forgotten flavors.

ingredients...

red lentils 1 cup
cauliflower florets 2 cups
peeled and cubed potato 1/2 cup
roughly chopped tomatoes 1 cup
finely chopped garlic 2 tsp
finely chopped ginger 1 tbsp
cumin powder 1 tsp
coriander powder 1 tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
mustard oil 1 tbsp
cumin seeds 1 tsp
chopped coriander greens 1/2 cup

procedure...

Wash the red lentils and cook in pressure cooker with 2 cups of water, the chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder and salt to taste. Cook for 4 minutes after the first whistle blows, lowering the flame after the whistle.

Heat mustard oil in a separate pan while the daal cooks, and tip in the cumin. Wait till they crackle and then add the potato cubes and salt to taste. Stir fry and cook for 3-4 minutes on low flame and then add the cauliflower florets and the garlic and ginger chopped. Crank up the flame and stir fry for just 2 minutes more.

Add the powder spices, mix well and stir fry for a minute more. Take off heat.

Add this cooked vegetables mixture to the cooked daal and let them all simmer for 10 minutes on low flame. The cauliflower florets should be firm but you can cook them mushy if you like.

Finish cooking by adding the coriander greens. Serve hot as a meal or as an accompaniment to a roti or rice kinda meal. You can always serve it with some butter or ghee on top.

You can add some green peas too to this stew or some fried lentil vadis (called badiyan in Hindi)

alu-gobhhi wala matar ka nimona | green peas nimona recipe with potatoes and cauliflowers, an authentic eastern UP curry...

This alu-gobhi wala matar ka nimona is such a delight to cook. It always evokes memories of my grandmother who used to cook such curries with so much of love and affection thrown in for good measure. Such spicy curries were her favorites, I remember how she used to insist on grinding a fresh chutney for every meal and slicing neat wedges of tomatoes, onions and carrots or radishes for salads. Food cooked with love has so much warmth to it, we would know if we have seen our mothers and grandmothers enjoying what they did for us kids. There is no substitute of a loving touch in everyday cooking you would agree. All the measurements and accurate methods fail when the love is not poured through the ladle.

And the love was poured through the ladle in the form of ghee sometimes. Fragrant and freshly homemade. Such recipes when cooked in ghee have a very distinct flavor but many people cook it in mustard oil and serve the curry with a spoonful of melted ghee for that lovely aroma. I prefer cooking this alu gobhi wala matar ka nimona in mustard oil because stir frying the vegetables in mustard oil imparts a complex flavor into this curry along with a few robust spices used.

ingredients...
(4-5 servings)
fresh green peas (shelled) 2 cups
baby potatoes (new winter potatoes) boiled, peeled and halved 1.5 cup
cauliflower florets 1.5 cup
ginger-garlic-green chilly paste 2 tbsp
coriander powder 2 tsp
cumin powder 1tsp
black pepper powder 1.5 tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
whole cumin seeds 2 tsp
mustard oil 1/3 cup
salt to taste
chopped coriander greens and stems 1/2 cup

procedure...

Make a coarse paste of the green peas, some of them should remain whole so if your food processor makes a paste quickly it's better to keep some whole green peas separately.


Heat oil in a deep pan and tip in the cumin seeds. Tip in the small florets of cauliflowers and boiled potato halves and stir fry them on medium flame so it all gets pinkish brown in 5-6 minutes. Add salt while this step as it helps absorbing the flavors later.

Add the powdered spices and the ginger-garlic-green chilly paste to the cooking mixture. This paste is made freshly, using about 2-3 green chilies, an inch piece of ginger and about 6-7 garlic cloves. The quantities can be adjusted to taste as you might like the nimona more garlicky or more hot.

Mix everything up and keep bhunoing the mixture on medium flame again. It helps the masala paste become toasted well and get aromatic. The earthy toasted aroma of the masala paste will be an indication of it's doneness. In appearance the mixture looks shiny and a little brownish. Total time taken for this step wont be more than 6-7 minutes.

Now is the time to add the coarse paste of green peas. Mix it all well and bhuno again for a couple of minutes so the flavors get melded.

Do not brown the green pea paste, it should just mix well with the masala paste and get a little sticky to the pan.

Now is the time to add water to the cooking mixture. Two cups of water will be good enough, but go by your choice of how runny or thick you want your nimona. Add the chopped coriander greens and stems at this stage, cover and let the curry simmer for about 5-7 minutes. Keep the flame low just after it get a gentle boil. It helps to keep the aromas of spices within the curry mixture. On high flame the top notes evaporate. Take crae the cauliflower florets keep their shape and don't get too mushy.

A firm bite in the cauliflower will be good to have otherwise it just gets lost and affects the final flavor of the nimona as it then interferes with the fresh flavors of green peas and coriander greens.

Serve the nimona hot with plain boiled rice or plain chapatis/rotis. Some people like a dollop of ghee on top of the nimona, but we like it as it is. The plain nimona is essentially cooked in ghee and that has a different flavor altogether. This one with alu-gobi, uses only cumin, coriander and black pepper as spice powders that are robust flavors on spices. Garam masala (cloves, cardamom, cinnamon etc) is not used so the fresh flavors of the green peas, the new potatoes and coriander greens make the curry aromatic in a different way.

We love this meal of nimona-chawal with a thick creamy raita. Any raw vegetables can be used for a raita that goes with this hot comforting bowl of winters.

Someone had commented on another nimona post of mine about this alu-gobhi ka nimona that is cooked in UP homes and that made me crave for this winter treat. It was made almost the next day, took some time to come to the blog and now again it makes me crave again for a warm bowl of this alu-gobhi wala matar ka nimona. In cold weather, such meals are a bliss.

See a mungodi wala matar ka nimona here..
another plain matar ka nimona without onion garlic here
and here are some basics of matar ka nimona that I posted in my initial days of this blog.

keema wala gobhi musallam...

This keema wala gobhi musallam is a whole head of cauliflower cooked covered with a keema masala dry curry. This recipe can be baked if using a bigger cauliflower or you need many cauliflower heads to serve a gathering. This was a small head and was just enough for two servings so I cooked it in a deep pan so all the steps of cooking can be done in a single utensil and it saves time too. So this is kadai cooked gobi musallam covered with mutton mince(keema). Cauliflower acquires a new dimension of taste in this recipe as the juices from mutton mince get absorbed really well . This is one dish which remains always in demand and doesn't demand much work to be done, although slow cooking is the best way to get a great tasting gobi musallam. Slow cooking will not be a problem if you keep on working on the next steps of the recipe while frying the cauliflower and then working on the side dishes later when it takes it's time on the stove top.

You can always cook broken florets of cauliflowers with the keema masala following the same recipe if you find it difficult to wrap the masala around cauliflower , or to core the cauliflower the way it is done here. The taste of the small florets remains the same if you cook them the same way but a musallam packs in a surprise element. The keema masala covers the cauliflower completely and it doesn't look like a vegetable hiding under  the spicy looking rich masala. It's only when you cut through it like a pie when the cauliflower is revealed...

And don't worry about the oil/fat content of the recipe. The picture is the proof, there is no oil on the plate can you see...

ingredients...
(2 large servings)

mutton mince or keema 200 gm
one medium sized cauliflower (this one was 400 gm)
one large onion (half of it diced finely and half cut in bigger chunks for the paste)
garlic cloves 5-6 fat ones
ginger peeled and diced 1-2 tbsp(to suit your taste)
dry red chillies 3-4 or to taste
every day curry powder 2 tsp
special garam masala 1 tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
freshly made tomato paste1/2 cup
salt to taste
mustard oil 3 tbsp or any other oil you use
procedure...

Core the cauliflower as shown in the picture, removing the hard stalk so a cavity is formed through the flower to let it absorb all the flavors.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a deep pan, tip in a tsp of salt in the oil directly to avoid any splattering of oil and fry the cauliflower turning it all the sides to make it brown like this.

Keeping the flame medium low and turning the cauliflower every few minutes is the key to even browning but do not worry if it brown unevenly. Just that it should be browned all around.

Make a paste of the onion,garlic,ginger and red chillies till the cauliflower is frying. After that, pour in the remaining oil into the same kadai and tip in the onion paste. Add salt to taste and keep frying the paste till it looks glazed. If you use more oil it will release the oil when fried, using less oil needs patient frying (bhunoing) of the masala paste.

Now add all the powdered spices and 2 tbsp of water to make them into a paste and bhuno again for a couple of minutes or till the spices get nicely aromatic.

Add the ground meat or keema and keep stirring till it gets cooked , takes about 8-10 minutes on low flame. You can cook it covered after mixing it nicely , but check for the water content to prevent burning in the bottom.

Add the tomato paste, mix and cook for a couple more minutes.

Now, using your spatula, shift all the fried masala paste to one side of the pan and place the fried cauliflower in the center of the pan. And scoop all the masala paste all over the cauliflower to cover it completely.

There will be some watery fluid around the cauliflower due to the tomatoes , add some water if the tomatoes have dried up. Cook covered on very low flame so the cauliflower soaks up all the flavors while cooking together. All the fluids are dried up when cooking is complete. Otherwise cook without lid for a while so it becomes dry.

Transfer carefully to a platter and garnish with onion rings and coriander greens if you wish.

Use a pie spatula to cut through the cauliflower and to serve it . I actually thought there would be some leftovers but the two of us polished it off with plain whole wheat chapatis.

Onion rings are great with a spicy dish like this, although pickled onions or onions rings doused with lime juice will be better if you make the gobi musallam hot and spicy. This recipe made a very mild spicy musallam and the kick provided by the red onions was a great accompaniment to it.

A raita can be served as a side with chapatis and/or rice with it . We like it so much i never make a side dish with it if i am making it just for the two of us. A much repeated recipe during winter months, we eat seasonal vegetables only and eat minimal meats during summer months.

I have another recipe of keema with a summer vegetable which is our favorite too and i make it whenever our plain simple meals of summer need a kick. Stay tuned in for the summer keema special.

This gobi musallam doesn't promise a quick meal but it's worth all the time it takes by slow cooking it for about 30 minutes. You can always make your chapatis, any other kind of breads or rice to go with it on the side as slow cooking gives quite some space to multitask.

How about a slice of a tree vegetable loaded with some meat ? And no , there are no vegetarian versions of this musallam.

Gobi musallam with just the spices is another thing....may be i make that soon take pictures and post it here :-)

After all that version is a childhood favorite while this one is something i improvised...to my taste...and it has won hearts. What about you?

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.