recipe of alu ke gutke, let the simplicity rule

There are some recipes so simple that the experts miss the point. You know how simplicity is always misunderstood, people want to add more value to the things they do to create something good and miss the greatness in the simpler things. In the case of alu ke gutke recipe something similar happened.

I had posted pictures of alu ke gutke on instagram recently and had been getting requests for the recipe after that. I intended to write the recipe here but since the alu ke gutke is quite simple I gave a quick recipe to one of my friends. She went on to google the recipe to make it, not realizing someone can screw up such a simple almost one and a half step recipe, she forwarded me the link and I was aghast to find a recipe with all the spice powders and hing-jeera and what not.

Alu ke gutke needs to be shared here I decided.

So here is the unpretentious recipe of alu ke gutke that is the best representative of the frugal ife in mountains. Alu ke gutke is made in every pahadi home in Garhwal and Kumaon region, potato being the main crop and not much variety of vegetables available to them at higher altitudes.

Writing this, I am reminded of a small trek we did in the hills of Sattal few years ago, we just followed a track that started with a faded signboard with a name of some nondescript temple and after an arduous one hour trek reached a temple surrounded with a well tended garden. We met a baba (a saint) and got to know he is from Banaras who went there several decades ago and has settled down in that temple, we were offered a plate of this alu ke gutke with hot ginger chai, free of cost. One of the most satiating meals I must say.

Alu ke gutke is available in the hills at almost every chai shop, served with a cup of hot chai if you wish and often topped with mooli ka raita. A very unusual combination but works wonderfully when trekking or even driving in the hills.

The frugality of alu ke gutke is such that it uses all dry ingredients, just 6 ingredients including salt, apart from the occasional chopped dhaniya patta when it is in season. It tastes best with the pahadi potatoes, cook it in the plains only with the new potatoes or forget about alu ke gutke, it is not alu ke gutke if the alu is not right.

The second important, non-replaceable ingredient is jakhia that imparts a subtle flavour and a delectable crunch that stays even if the alu ka gutka is cooked hours before you eat.

Jakhia (Cleome viscosa) is a herb that grows in the foothills of Himalayas as well as in the tropics throughout the world, the leaves are used as a vegetable and all parts of this plant as medicinal ingredients, the use of the seeds in a tadka like this is seen only in Uttarakhand.

Jakhia is antipyretic and anti-inflammatory and is used for many minor health issues, the spices in Indian kitchen have been known to be curative and healing, their usage has evolved over several generations if not centuries.

If you don't have jakhia, make jeera alu instead. Alu ke gutke needs good quality potatoes, preferably baby potatoes and jakhia, the other ingredients can vary minimally. Like you can use green chilies instead of red dry ones and dhaniya patta can be a choice, no other changes please.

ingredients
500 gm boiled, peeled and cubed potatoes
2 tbsp mustard oil
3 broken dry red chilies
1 tsp jakhia seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
chopped coriander leaves for garnish

procedure

Heat mustard oil, tip in the red chilies and the jakhia and let them crackle for a couple of seconds.

Add the turmeric powder and immediately dump the potatoes over it, add salt and mix everything nicely. Keep stirring and cooking for 5 minutes, sprinkle chopped coriander leaves and it is done.

Serve hot or cold.

It tastes great as a side dish with meals or as breakfast starch if you want some potatoes, it is better than any fries or hash browns trust me.

Served with tea it has a unique way of satisfying you. The potato lovers would agree but the simplicity of this alu ke gutke does the wonders if you ask me.
 

sagga pyaz ki subzi recipe | spring onion stir fry UP style

Sagga pyaz is just another name by which spring onions or hara pyaz are know as in UP, eastern Uttar Pradesh to be precise. Sagga pyaz literally means greens of onion or pyaz ka saag and even a saag (stir fried greens) type recipe made with this is known as sagga pyaz.

Spring onions start appearing in the early winters and keep coming to the markets till spring. There are many winter recipes that use spring onions and the alu hare pyaz ki subzi is one of the favourites. Carrot and spring onion paratha is another recipe we love, it is added to our everyday omelets and scrambles by the handfuls. Spring onion and potato soup is a regular too every winter, sagga pyaz ke pakode takes the cake whenever one craves for some pakodas during winters. .

Someone was talking about sagga pyaz on Instagram when I was reminded of this subzi known as sagga pyaz, a quick stir fry that is replete with the rustic flavour of spring onion, often quite sharp when it is the spring of red onions. But it is a much loved subzi because of this sharpness for some people, we like to tone down the sharpness by adding some new potatoes of the season to sagga pyaz.

ingredients 
(serves 2-3)

400 gm spring onions, preferably small bulbs and fresh green leaves
one small poato
chopped green chillies to taste
1/2 tsp fenugreek (methi) seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder (optional but recommended) 
salt to taste
1 tbsp mustard oil

procedure 

Clean and chop the spring onions in small bits, keeping the white and green parts separate.

Clean and chop the potato in small bits too. No need to peel the potato if it is clean and unblemished.

Heat mustard oil, add the fenugreek seeds, chopped chillies and let them get aromatic before proceeding. Add the chopped potatoes, salt and turmeric powder and stir to mix.

Cook for 2 minutes before adding the white parts of the spring onion and cook for a couple of minutes while stirring it all.

Now add the green parts of the spring onion, mix well and cook only till the greens get wilted. The sagga pyaz subzi is done. Serve hot or warm or even at room temperature, this subzi is a great side dish for Indian thali meals.

I remember this sagga pyaz subzi used to be our lunch box meal sometimes with parathas, during the school days. I remember eating this subzi with bajre ki roti and white butter too and sometimes just rolled up in a roti to make a quick snack.

We use our subzis in so many ways if we like them.

Sagga pyaz is one of those in my home, although I have met a few people who are intolerant to the strong aroma of the onion in the spring onions and can't eat it at all. Make some sagga pyaz ki subzi if you like it, else capitalise on other greens of the winter season.

alu sowa ki bhujia | a warm fragrant stri fry with potatoes and dill leaves

Sowa or Soya is Dill leaves and is also known by the name of Shepu, a fragrant winter herb that is used liberally all over UP. Sowa methi is a popular combination of flavours and works great when making a sookhi subzi with alu, even the sowa methi ka paratha is so good you never get bored of this herb. But the most popular will be this alu sowa ki bhujia and even alu sowa ki subzi with minor variations.

We have been enjoying a lot of sowa this season too and had alu sowa in many variations. It will not be fair if I don't share all those alu sowa recipes here.

Here is the alu sowa ki bhujia to start with. It tastes great with Indian meals in general, great with plain hot parathas, dal chawal meals but you would be surprised to see the response when you serve it like a warm or even cold salad. Potato and dill salad like this can be had on its own and can become a sandwich stiffing.

Alu sowa ki bhujia 

ingredients 
(served 2-4 depending on side dishes)
2 large boiled potatoes cooled to room temperature or refrigerated
1.5 cup chopped dill leaves (1 cup is good too)
1 tbsp mustard oil
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp methi (fenugreek) seeds
chopped green chillies to taste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
amchoor powder a few pinches (optional)

procedure 

Peel and cube the potatoes in bite sized pieces.

Heat oil in a pan or kadhai. Add the cumin seeds and methi seeds and wait till they turn aromatic and pinkish brown. Add in the green chillies and the cubed potatoes in quick succession. Toss and fry on low heat till the potatoes get some brown spots and get dehydrated a little.

Add salt, turmeric powder and toss and stir for a couple of minutes, add the chopped dill leaves and keep tossing and mixing till the dill leaves get wilted completely and coat the potatoes well.

Adjust seasoning.

Sprinkle amchoor powder as per taste if using.

Serve hot right away or serve it cold. It is great any which way.

The other type of alu sowa ki subzi is cooked using raw potatoes and is more of a creamy mash infused with lot of dill leaves. I use all the tender stems of dill in this version too.

Alu sowa ki subzi

ingredients 

2 medium sized potatoes peeled and cubed
1 cup chopped dill leaves
1/2 cup tender dill stems chopped roughly
chopped green chillies to taste
1 tbsp mustard oil
1/4 tsp methi (fenugreek) seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp pepper powder
salt to taste

procedure 

Heat the mustard oil and tip in the methi seeds. Wait till it becomes aromatic. Add the green chillies and cubed potatoes, mix salt and turmeric powder, cover with a filling lid and cook on low flame for 6-7 minutes or till the potatoes are cooked.

Now add the tender stems of dill, mix well, add pepper powder and cover again to cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add the dill leaves, toss and mix. Thrash with a wooden spatula a few times to make the potatoes mush up a little. The dill flavour will infuse beautifully in the potatoes. 

Serve hot or cold, as a subzi or a salad or any which way you want.

Served with some grilled piri piri chicken wings we loved it for dinner last week. The leftover was used in alu paratha the next day and that was great too.

Make some alu sowa ki bhujia or alu sowa ki subzi while the season lasts. Dill freezes well in ziplock bags so you can save some of the season's bounty but the new winter potatoes cannot be saved.

Make some alu sowa now, bhujia or subzi you can decide according to your taste.

sookhe alu | a slow cooked potato stir fry with everyday curry powder

Potato is the most underused vegetable in my kitchen even though the husband is very fond of potatoes. In winters the new potatoes make great alu paratha but we don't eat potatoes in summer at all. Some alu parval ki bhujia is made sometimes but apart from that there is no potato on our summer menu.

This recipe of sookhe alu becomes an exception sometimes and we both enjoy having it with a relaxed weekend brunch. Our weekend brunches are invariably relaxed and simple meals, something  weboth like.

This sookhe alu was made a few weeks ago when I noticed I had not used the potatoes that I had grown in my garden. This recipe became the excuse to eat the home grown potatoes. I remembered my research guide Dr. Maya Goyle a lot when I was cooking it. Her step daughters in Denmark used to love this and call this as brown potatoes because of the brown masala used. The brown masala is nothing else but the everyday curry powder that has prominent notes of coriander, tejpatta and cumin with mild heat of black pepper. With a tart hint of amchoor and aromatic kasoori methi this sookhe alu becomes a treat for the senses. 

Incidentally, I always end up making this sookhe alu whenever I grind thee masala mix of my everyday curry powder. The aroma of this freshly milled spice blend always reminds me of this dry stir fry and I give in to the indomitable pleasure of potatoes.

I think sooke alu made with boiled and cooled potatoes is a genius recipe and I can't take credit at all. It is the recipe I learnt from Dr. Maya Goyle and its taste still connects me with her, now that she is no more in this world.

ingredients 
(2 large servings or 4 regular servings)

400 gm potatoes (boiled with skin and cooled, preferably refrigerated for a day)
handful of kasoori methi
(the best you can find, else skip this. Do not substitute with fresh methi leaves)
2 tbsp everyday curry powder 
1/2 tsp amchoor powder 
1/2 tsp red chilli powder (or to taste)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp mustard oil
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds 
salt to taste

procedure

Peel and cube the potatoes.

Heat oil in a pan and throw in the cumin seeds, let them splutter and get aromatic.

Tip the cubed potatoes with salt and turmeric powder and stir fry on medium heat till they turn golden brown. The slower this step is the better the potatoes taste. So take your time, make this sookhe alu when you are doing something else too in the kitchen.

Add the curry powder and red chilli powder once the potatoes looks adequately browned and fry some more till the masala becomes aromatic, sprinkle amchoor powder, mix well and it's ready.

Serve with paratha and pickle or eat as a snack. Trust me this sookhe alu mostly becomes the appetizer in my household.

Here you see the sookhe alu with pyaz ka paratha and a Gujrati pickle called Methiya athanu. I will post the recipe of Methiya athanu soon.

The slow cooked potatoes with this spice blend becomes magical if you trust me. There is no onion garlic in this recipe and the flavour is absolutely rustic and robust, kasoori methi giving it a slight bitter whiff. This is far better than any French fry of the world, and you don't even need any tomato ketchup with it.

This sookhe alu tastes great even if stuffed in a grilled sandwich. Actually this was the most common grilled sandwich we used to make with evening tea back home.

everyday curry : Kathal ki bhujia | jackfruit stir fry with pepper and dry pomegranate powder

After sharing the achari kathal ki subzi with you, I was going through the kathal (Jack fruit) pictures in my albums and found at four more recipes that needed to be shared here. I know I have been very irregular here but I promise everything will be shared sooner or later.

This kathal ki bhujia is so good you would cook it more frequently for two reasons. One, it is fairly easy to cook once the peeling and chopping is done and two, it is a light curry (sookhi subzi) that can be eaten everyday easily. Kathal subzi is known as a spicy heavy curry normally, but we do cook very light curries with kathal too, Kathal ka dopyaza is a fine example of a light kathal curry.

I will tell you chopping kathal is not to tough. Yes it does take some time but most good things come at a price. Most vegetable vendors will peel and chop it for you if you ask them, but do that only if you are planning to cook kathal the same day or the next day. Else, just tell them to give you a thick slice of the jack fruit like the below picture.

Once you have this slice, just grease your hands and peel off the thick skin. Remove the inner pith too.

Now place the moon shaped jack fruit slice on a chopping board and chop into pieces of required size. For this kathal ki bhujia we need really thin slivers.

Separate the seeds and remove all parchment like seed coats. The chopped and cleaned mature kathal looks like this.

If using fresh kathal, and if it is chopped nicely it takes just about 15 minutes to cook on medium heat. You can always add your own choice of seasoning and spices, I like this kathal ki bhujia with a strong kick of black pepper and an earthy tartness of anardana (dried pomegranate seeds).

ingredients...
(2-3 servings)

chopped kathal like above 2 cups
sliced shallots of baby onions 1/4 cup
mustard oil 1.5 tbsp
cumin seeds
whole dry red chillies 2
ginger julienne 1 tbsp
black pepper corns 1 tbs
anardana 2 tbsp
salt to taste

preparation...

Heat a thick base pan and dry roast the peppercorns and anaradana briefly. Cool and make a coarse powder in mortar and pestle.

Heat mustard oil in a kadhai and tip in cumin seeds and red chillies, add the sliced onions once the cumin and chilly get aromatic and cook till they start getting lightly browned.

Add chopped kathal along with the seeds. Add salt to taste and stir fry for a couple of minutes.

Cover and cook for five minutes and mix once again. Cover and cook again for 5 minutes or till done, stirring in between for uniform browning.

Add the pepper anardana powder and stir fry for a couple of minutes. Serve hot.

This Kathal ki bhujia is great with paratha or roti meals. Nice with dal chawal meals too and even in Indian style grilled sandwiches with green chutney.

We like this kathal ki bhujia with our multi grain rotis.

Choose white fleshed tender but large sized kathal if you are planning to make this kathal ki bhujia. Else you may be left with a too dry bhujia or a melting sweetish kind bhujia that doesn't do justice to this recipe.

The kathal feels nice and soft in the bhujia, lightly caramelized with hints of ginger, pepper and pomegranate seeds. You might end up eating it as a salad too.

Try this kathal ki bhujia and let me know.

everyday subzi : achari mushroom alu | mushrooms, baby potatoes and baby onions stir fry in pickling spices

Mushrooms make quick and tasty curries and stir fries, they are easy to clean and chop without any special skills and are available almost throughout the year. These qualities make them a frequent appearance in my kitchen and I feel adding some chopped mushrooms to my omelets, egg scrambles, soups, stir fries and even mushroom sauce to coat a meat dish. The most common use of mushrooms is done in the morning rush hours naturally. Mushrooms with spring onions is another favourite in winter season.

Since I cook a lunch box for Arvind in the morning I often end up cooking a variant of pickled mushroom stir fry that he likes well with his roti or paratha. This achari mushroom with paneer I cook when there is no other protein for the lunch box and the one I am sharing now is cooked when there is some rajma or chhole or chicken mince to go inside the lunch box. He avoids non veg with bones for lunch box for obvious reasons.

This achari mushroom uses slightly different spices and the end result is quite different too. There are actually many versions of achari mushrooms and a few of them use tomatoes and tomato puree in it but I like achari mushrooms a bit dry.

ingredients
(2-3 servings)
boiled and peeled baby potatoes, halved  6-8
button mushrooms halved or quartered depending on size 200 gm
baby onions peeled, halved or quartered about 12-14

spice powders 
turmeric powder 1 tsp
red chilly powder 1/4 tsp
Kashmiri chilly powder 1 tsp
ginger powder 1/2 tsp
fennel powder 1/2 tsp
asafotida (hing) powder 1 pinch

lime juice 1 tsp mixed with 4 tbsp water
nigella (kalonji) seeds 1/2 tsp
fenugreek (methi) seeds 1/4 tsp
mustard oil 1.5 tbsp
salt to taste

procedure

Mix the spice powders in lime juice solution along with salt and keep aside.

Heat the oil in a pan and tip in the fenugreek and nigella seeds and let them get aromatic. Take care not to bur them. Now pour the spice mix into it and stir well. Cook till the oil floats on top, it takes about a minute or so.

Now add the quartered mushrooms and stir fry till they start wilting. Add the halved potatoes and keep tossing till they get coated for 2 minutes. Add the baby onion quarters in the last and cook for 2 minutes more.

Take off heat and garnish with fresh chopped green chillies. This achari mushroom alu tastes good either hot or at room temperature. A good test of any achari dish. It keeps well in the fridge for 2 days if it lasts that long.

I make the use of the 2 most ubiquitous ingredients potatoes and onions in this recipe but mushrooms are also almost always there in my fridge. I have to buy mushrooms whenever I see them fresh and I wait for the season when they will be cheap.

Oh and if you have bought too many packs of mushrooms they don't spoil in the fridge. Mushrooms keep well for a week normally but if I buy them in bulk I simply keep a few packs of them cleaned and spread over a bamboo plate inside the fridge. The mushrooms dehydrate this way and last for about a month or more, these fridge dehydrated mushrooms can be re-hydrated quickly and used for any recipe easily.

I am sure you also love mushrooms and if you are looking for recipes other than matar mushroom or kadhai mushroom, I gave you many options in this post. Do try them and let me know if you like. Mushrooms are good for health.

And if you want to be indulgent with mushrooms you can make mushroom manchurian, the indo-chinese fusion we make with button mushrooms occasionally.

pyaz ka raita aur arbi ki sookhi subzi | onion yogurt raita and colocasia curry with coriander greens

Pyaz ka raita used to be a favourite in our childhood days. I am not joking. I know many people whose most favourite raita would be boondi ka raita and most Banaras families made the best boondi ka raita I have ever tasted anywhere else. That boondi ka raita used to be a little sweet and sour and a very little hot. Raita is considered the digestive condiment served with the first course of meals and more serving are had till the end of the meal. For some people using any vegetables in a raita is blasphemy but I somehow always loved the ones with vegetables in some form or the other.

This pyaz ka raita used to be different from all the other raitas that were made at home. This was the one where the dahi (home made yogurt) will be thinned down a little bit and the raita would be a little runny. All the other raitas will be thick and creamy but not pyaz ka raita. And this was the only raita where the vegetable (onion in this case) would be fried till pinkish brown and then mixed with thinned yogurt. Other vegetables were just grated and added raw to the raita (like cucumber, carrots, radish etc) or were cooked or steamed (spinach, bathua, grated lauki etc) and then added to the raita.

Now you know this raita used to be a little different in all aspects. The roughly chopped onions will be shallow fried in mustard oil with a few tempering ingredients and the extra oil would always float on the raita. Now I make it low oil but my mom's version still has a layer of oil floating on the surface.

ingredients..
(2-3 servings)
roughly chopped red onions 3/4 cup
scissor cut dry red chillies 2 or to taste
hing (asafotida) 1 pinch
cumin seeds 1 tsp
chopped curry leaves 1 tbsp or more
mustard oil or any oil you want 2 tsp
salt to taste
black pepper powder to taste
yogurt 1 cup
water 3/4 cup

procedure..

Heat mustard oil in a pan and tip in the hing and cumin seeds and let them splutter. Now add the cut red chillies, chopped curry leaves and then the onions. Add slat and fry the onions on low flame till they get pinkish brown.

Let the mixture cool down. Then whisk the yogurt and water together and add the fried onion mix to it. Add pepper powder and mix well. Serve at room temperature.

This pyaz ka raita used to be always accompanied with some sookhi subzi. We used to eat a lot of parwal ki bhujia, kachhe kele ki subzi, arbi ki sookhi subzi or beans cabbage or cauliflowers cooked with minimal spices.

This arbi ki sookhi subzi is cooked with loads of green coriander leaves and some dhaniya-jeera powder or all blended into a paste together. I like the later version for its convenience and better aromas.

ingredients of arbi ki sooki subzi
(3 servings)

boiled and peeled arbi (colocasia or taro roots) 250 gm
chopped coriander greens with stems 1.5 cups
coriander seeds 2 tsp
cumin seeds 2 tsp
green chillies 2-3
chopped ginger 1 tsp
chopped garlic 1 tsp
turmeric powder
mustard oil 1 tbsp
salt to taste
lime juice 2 tsp

Procedure..

Chop the arbi in roundels. Keep aside.

Blend together all the whole spices and chopped ginger garlic and green coriander leaves. Make a coarse paste. Keep aside.

Heat the oil in a thick base kadhai and tip in the hing and wait for a couple seconds to infuse the hing in oil. Add the green paste and fry till it gets aromatic.

Add the arbi roundels and fry well, occasionally turning them. The arbi should absorb the flavours of the green spice paste.

Add lime juice and mix well. Serve hot or on room temperature. This sookhi subzi is a good option for lunch boxes too.

We enjoyed this meal with multi grain kasoori methi parathas. This was a lavish (read heavy) Sunday brunch one day. We normally have only this kind of meals on Sundays and a very light early dinner.

The arbi ki sookhi subzi makes the whole meal for me sometimes. I love it sometimes if not always.

everyday subzi: turai aur paneer ki subzi

Turai is sponge gourd, a staple summer squash that I end up cooking a lot. This is one of those vegetables that even Arvind loves so I can do many versions of it. This paneer turai ki subzi was made to suit his lunch box meals, to make the curry protein rich and filling with multigrain rotis that he liked for his everyday lunch box. But the greatest convenience is the ease of cooking in the morning rush hours. You get the drift.

Many a times I add a paneer salad or egg bhurji or just sliced boiled eggs smeared with pesto, mustard or mint chutney along with some green vegetables but if he is having eggs for breakfast and I have no time for making a salad I add paneer or shredded chicken to his subzi. Works well because the same subzi or salad serves me for my brunch later in the day. This is the story on most weekdays with just a change of the vegetables used.

Now a days as work load is getting more, the vegetables are cut by the maid most of the times though I do all the cooking myself, the vegetables come out of ziplock bags when I cook.

ingredients 
(2-3 servings)
peeled and sliced turai (ridge gourd) 4 cups or 700 gm approximately
sliced onions 1/2 cup or one medium sized onion
slit green chillies as per taste
cumin seeds 1 tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
cubed paneer 100 gm (3/4 cup)
mustard oil or any oil you like 1 tbsp

procedure

Heat the oil and tip in the cumin seeds. Add the slit green chillies once the cumin seeds crackle. Immediately add the sliced onions as well and stir fry till they get slightly pinkish.

Add the turmeric powder and mix well, add all the sliced turai and mix well again while the veggies wilt a little bit.

Add the salt and cook covered till the turai wilts completely and leaves it's juices. Add the cubed paneer and mix well. Let the curry cook on high flame without the lid for a while till the extra liquid evaporates.

Serve as required. This curry has a sweetness to it due to the onions and the natural taste of the sponge gourd. You can add a little more green chillies than you normally have and even a little chopped ginger if you wish. Some tomatoes also make sense if you want the flavours a bit hot and sour type. This recipe makes the curry a little on the sweeter side with just a mild hit of chilly heat which we have grown up eating in the Eastern UP homes.

everyday subzi: kumaoni palak as they make it at Te Aroha

I have been loving this kumaoni palak subzi they serve at Te Aroha. I ask for this spinach stir fry almost everyday for one of my meals whenever I visit here. There is something the way onions are added to this dry stir fry and the way whole coriander seeds make a crunch in the mouth. This would be the simplest spinach stir fry with very clean flavours that can be a part of any cuisine if you ask me. I wont mind a cheese sandwich stuffed with this spinach stir fry if I am having a sandwich, though I don't remember when I had my last sandwich.

ingredients
(2 servings)

spinach (chopped roughly, steamed lightly) 2 cups packed
diced onions 3/4 cup
whole coriander seeds 1 tbsp
whole dry red chillies 3-4 or more if you like
mustard oil 1 tbsp
salt to taste

preparation

Heat the oil in a pan and tip in the whole red chillies and coriander seeds and let them crackle.

Add the onions and stir fry for a minute or till the onions get translucent.

Add salt and spinach and stir fry on high heat for about 5 minutes or till the spinach looks dry.

Serve hot with meal of your choice.

I like this spinach stir fry with daal or rajma and ragi roti or multigrain roti but you can pair it just with anything you like.

Kumaoni palak will be repeated very frequently in your kitchen I am sure.

everyday subzi: guar moongphali ki sookhi subzi | cluster beans and peanuts stir fry

Guar is Cluster beans, also called as guar phali in Hindi. The beans are a developed taste for many but those who like this vegetable, just love it. A lot depends on how you choose the beans when buying as guar can get really hard and fibrous when you pick up mature or stale beans from the market. Look out for slender beans that are tender to touch and shiny in appearance. Guar phali can cooked in many ways, you can stir fry them with chilly garlic paste to make lasuni bhujia or cook them with eggplants with loads of garlic and some hing. A dry curry of guar beans made using a sesame powder is one of our favourite too. Guar dhokli I discovered later and became a favourite too.

Now you know how much I love cluster beans. You can imagine how happy I was to find a quicker way to cook this vegetable and that too when the husband reported that he liked the subzi in his lunch box. This is a sookhi subzi that borders on the territory of a 'stir fry salad', I found it one day on Anita's facebook timeline when she was cooking it and posted a picture. I was so curious I cooked (actually tossed) this curry the very next day and loved it. She later posted this recipe on her blog as well.

I have cooked this one a few times since then, once I added a little shallow fried dry shrimp too, like in this long beans recipe with sambal belacan. But I realised I liked it with peanuts and garlic only, with varying degrees of chilly heat depending on my mood and the summer heat we are living in.

Oh yes, and the recipe involved boiling the chopped guar and mixing it with a coarse powder/paste of the roasted peanuts, garlic and red chillies. Just that.

ingredients

chopped guar (tender cluster beans) 2 cups
roasted peanuts 1/2 cup (or as per taste)
garlic cloves 5-6 (or more if you like)
dry red chillies 3-4 (adjustable)
sesame oil (or any oil you like) 1 tsp
salt 1 tsp

procedure

Add the salt to a cup of water and bring to boil. Dunk the chopped guar in the boiling water and wait till they change colour, it takes about 4-5 minutes for tender guar. Keep the lid on while cooking. Drain and keep aside.

Lightly fry the garlic and chilly in hot oil. Take them out and pound them along with roasted peanuts in a mortar and pestle or in mixie jar, make sure the paste is really coarse.

Mix the paste with boiled guar and serve as desired.

We loved it mixed with plain boiled rice. Peanuts were a bit generous in my recipe so I decided that this will be our simplified balanced meal.

When the peanuts are lesser, I like to add a boiled egg to my plate.

Try this recipe at least once even if you don't like guar. I am sure it will convert you for life. Guar mugphali ki subzi is here to stay in my kitchen for sure.

everyday subzi: kundru pyaz nariyal ki subzi | ivy gourd stir fry with shallots, coconut and curry patta in sambar masala

Kundru is the Ivy gourd, Tendli or Tindora in different parts of India. It is one of those convenient vegetables that don't need peeling so the preparation time is really suitable for most urban cooks. Just rinse the kundru and slice them, it cooks faster than many vegetables unless you want to change the texture. I like it with a bite so almost half cooked is good for me. Kundru has great nutritional value too, read it all here.

Everyday subzis cannot be simpler than this. Kundru ki subzi is not a very welcome dish in most families but I have always loved this slightly sour little gourd. The most frequently made stir fry with ivy gourds was this kundru ki lasuni bhujia that we always love with our daal chawal meals. This recipe with coconut was introduced to me by a senior in my research days. She used to bring it in her lunch box and we used to share our food, not to mention that I always loved whatever she brought just because it smelled of sesame oil and had loads of coconut in it always.

After so many years when I started making this kundru with coconut and southern spices, I had very little memory of what I tasted back then so I resorted to this quick stir fry with ready made sambar masala. It didn't disappoint me at all.

ingredients
(2 servings)
sliced kundru 1.5 cup (250 gm)
sliced shallots (or baby onions) 100 gm or 3/4 cup
curry patta about 12 strings or a generous handful
grated fresh coconut 2 tbsp (I used frozen)
sambar powder 1 tbsp
salt to taste
sesame oil 1 tbsp

procedure

Heat the sesame oil in a kadhai. Preferably cast iron kadhai or a thick base pan would be good. Tip in the curry patta as soon as the oil gets hot, followed immediately by onions and sliced kundru.

Add salt and keep tossing the vegetables, lower the heat after a couple of minutes and keep cooking for about 5-8 minutes or till the kundru gets cooked and the onions get nicely caramelized.

Now add the sambar powder and the grated coconut, stir and cook for a couple of minutes and take the pan off the stove. Serve hot or at room temperature, this stir fry tasted great any way.

This is a good subzi for lunch box and keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days.

broccoli paneer bhurji | a broccoli recipe with Indian curry spices

Somehow I never liked broccoli cooked like alu gobhi. Whenever I would cook broccoli like Indian curries using my everyday curry powder it would be a mundane kind of subzi not comparable to alu gobhi at all. But that was when we were experimenting with the new vegetable in the market a decade ago. Now I like broccoli in the raw or blanched for mostly. But when the brccoli is not too fresh I need ideas to cook it too.

This broccoli paneer bhurji is one of those ways to use up not so fresh broccoli that was left in the fridge.

I had stopped cooking broccoli the Indian way and loved it in all Chinese recipes I cook and have been using it in many many salads and as a steamed vegetables on the side of a meat or fish meal. I love raw broccoli and lightly steamed broccoli in anything and everything.

But then some vegetables are such that you tend to experiment with those a lot. I made a pesto with broccoli that was just okay nothing great and was never repeated. The broccoli soups were loved by all and became a way to consume all the excess broccoli I would end up buying every week in winters. 

On one of those weeks in winters when I had bought a lot of broccoli and was not able to finish them, I juts blanched a few of them and froze a huge bagful. Frozen broccoli can only be used in soups as we like it, and soups we don't normally have in summers here in India. 

What to do with that huge bag of frozen broccoli then?

I decided to make a broccoli and paneer bhurji on the lines of palak paneer bhurji one fine day and it was such a good taste I finished all the stock frozen broccoli cooking this broccoli paneer bhurji. 

But honestly speaking I did not have any ideas to use frozen broccoli for extremely hot summers as soups were not an option and we like only fresh broccoli otherwise, frozen florets loose their texture.

This broccoli paneer bhurji is the perfect answer for frozen or even stale and limp broccoli. Thankfully so.

ingredients

(2-3 servings)

paneer 150 gm 

roughly minced broccoli (fresh, stale or frozen) 2 cups

fenugreek leaves (fresh or frozen, I used frozen) 1 cup

sliced red onions 1 cup

chopped garlic 1 tbsp

everyday curry powder 2 tsp

turmeric powder 1 tsp

red chilly powder 1/2 tsp

amchoor powder (dry raw mango powder)  1/2 tsp

salt to taste

mustard oil 1 tbsp

procedure

Heat the oil in a kadhai or pan and tip in the garlic first. Let it sizzle for a while and then add the sliced onions. Keep frying till the onions start getting caramelized. 

Add the powdered spices except amchoor powder, mix well and let them cook for a minute. Add the minced broccoli and mix well, cook covered on medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Now add the chopped fenugreek leaves and the cubed paneer as well. Keep stirring and scrambling the paneer and greens in the pan as you cook. Within the next 2-3 minutes the bhurji will be ready. 

Add amchoor powder and mix well. Serve as desired.

Broccoli and paneer bhurji is nowhere close to palak paneer bhurji, it is different but equally tasty. The caramelized onions impart a sweetness that balances the slight bitterness of fenugreek leaves and the broccoli adds body to these flavours. This was the first time I liked broccoli in an Indian spiced curry and I don't mind that the broccoli lost it's texture. We have to use frozen or stale broccoli sometimes and this is a good way to get a nutritious meal with that.

We loved it both with ragi roti and with plain boiled rice.

Are you trying this broccoli paneer bhurji? Let me know when you do.

Koli masala : a robust blend of spices and a few curries with it...

It was a completely new bouquet of aromas that hit my senses as soon as I opened a packet of Koli masala given to me by Anita. The creator of this Koli masala blend is Anjali Koli and she had sent packets of this masala for Anita and me. That was long time ago and I used the masala first for a shrimp curry and then a liver curry that I mostly cook for dinner. I was pleased by the results and experimented with the spice blend a bit more, asked Anjali more about the recipes she uses it for and got to know she is a vegetarian. She sent me another large pack of Koli masala that would last me another 6 months or so even after sharing some with a friend.

After talking to Anjali, I started using this Koli masala for vegetables more and was never disappointed. It is a good change for our palate so used to everyday curry powder and the more aromatic garam masala. There is a distinct whiff of patharphool or dagad phool or Chhadeela (the lichen Parmelia perlata) and star anise in this spice blend and chilly peppers are also included so I don't add any chilly powder in the curries when I use it.

One of the most surprisingly good results I got from Moongrey (Rat tailed radish) ki subzi. So much so that I would always want moongrey cooked with Koli masala now, though I like the rat tailed radish salads and moongrey stir fry that I always do. Here is the simple recipe with moongrey and potatoes.

moongrey ki subzi with koli masala...

ingredients..
cleaned and chopped moongrey (rat tailed radish or radish fruits) 2 cups
boiled, cooled, peeled and cubed potatoes 1 cup
chopped tomatoes 3/4 cup
ginger and garlic 1 tsp each
Koli masala 1 tbsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
cumin powder 1 tsp
mustard oil 1 tbsp
salt to taste

preparation...

Heat mustard oil and tip in the ginger and garlic. Fry till fragrant. Dissolve the powdered spices in 2 tbsp water and pour into the pan, fry till aromatic, for a minute approximately.

Add the potato cubes, fry for about 2 minutes stirring all the while on medium heat.

Add the tomatoes and salt and cook till mushy.

Add the moongrey and keep stirring the mix on low flame till the delicate radish fruits get cooked and soft. Serve hot or warm with roti or daal chawal meals.

This mutton liver fry was the most frequent during winter days, mostly cooked for dinner along with millet rotis. It used to be a comforting warming meal, but now as it has gotten so hot here in Delhi, I just fry the mutton liver with salt and pepper in a little ghee and serve with some parwal ka chokha or lauki ki subzi.

To make this mutton liver with Koli masala, Just cook the ginger garlic in mustard oil first, dissolve powdered spices in a little water and add. Cook briefly, add tomatoes, loads of dhaniya patta with stems and salt to taste and cook till mushy. Add liver and cook for about 20 minutes covered, stirring once in a while.

Another quick curry I do with Koli masala is the chickpeas and spinach curry. The Koli masala and tomatoes and cooked just like the liver curry, then I add the spinach and pressure cooked chickpeas. Cook this mix till the flavours blend. A very unusual chhole palak that goes well with either plain boiled rice or plain roti.

Interestingly, a few vegetables which the husband normally dislikes, were made using this Koli masala and he loved them. Bakla (fava beans) ki subzi is one acid test when trying a new spice blend. He loved this Bakla ki subzi with Koli masala. I normally cook bakla with potatoes and tomatoes and the everyday curry powder, have posted a really easy recipe of bakla here, this one with Koli masala was a nice twist.

ingredients
fava beans (bakla) 250 gm
potatoes cut into batons about 100 gm
sliced onions 50 gm (half a large onion)
chopped garlic 1 tbsp
sliced tomatoes 120 gm (one large ripe tomato)
koli masala 2 tsp
salt to taste
mustard oil 1 tbsp

procedure..

Remove stems and string the fava beans. Cut into halves if they are too large.

Heat mustard oil in a kadhai and tip in the chopped garlic and slice onions followed by batons of potato. Stir fry for about 2-3 minutes.

Add the fava beans and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the koli masala and mix well. Keep stirring for about a minute on low flame.

Add the sliced tomatoes and salt and keep stirring and cooking till the tomatoes get a bit mushy. Add half a cup of water, cover the pan and simmer for about 5 minutes or till the vegetables are cooked through.

Serve hot with roti and daal or even with plain boiled rice.

I cook bakla with slivers of potato sometimes, just with a tempering of green chillies and sliced garlic cloves. Essentially in mustard oil. I dunk everything at once in hot mustard oil along with salt to taste and cook them all on medium heat till garlic slices are browned well, potato slivers are nice and golden and bakla is cooked through. This time I sprinkled a little Koli masala and it tasted good. Just take care to cook the vegetables after adding spice blend well for a few seconds in this one.

Another try was with chopped green beans (French beans) and peas with tomatoes, with added paneer cubes. This one was a dry subzi made for Arvind's lunch box.

ingredients
chopped green beans 1 cup
green peas 1 cup
chopped tomatoes 1/2 cup
chopped garlic and ginger 1 tsp each
cubed paneer 100 gm (3/4 cup)
mustard oil 1 tbsp
Koli masala 1 tsp
black pepper powder 1/4 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
salt to taste

preparation

Heat mustard oil and tip in the ginger and garlic. Let them fry till fragrant. Add the tomatoes and salt and cook till mushy. Add the Koli masala, turmeric powder and pepper powder and cook for a few seconds.

Add the peas and chopped beans, cover and cook till done. Stir in between to coat them well with the spices.

Add paneer cubes, mix well and cook covered for a couple of minutes. Serve hot with roti or daal chawal or as desired.

Just take care to add the Koli masala at a stage when it needs a bit of frying or cooking at medium flame so the spice blend gets cooked well. It is a robustly flavoured spice blend and stays well in the curry, does not evaporate like aromatic gram masala. I found that most of the vegetables take on the flavours well, especially in the presence of tomatoes or tamarind.

The good thing is, you can buy the Koli masala at Anjali's website. The spices are milled under her supervision and I found the quality really good. I never buy or use any packaged spice blends but this one would be an exception. This is home made. 

hara chana, green gram or tender green garbanzo beans | a subzi, a salad and a tea time snack with hara hana

4 ways with green garbanzo beans or hara chana

Harey chane or green garbanzo beans are a seasonal pleasure. Tender kernels of green gram, sweetish in taste and a fresh crunch in the texture. How much I dig for season's fresh produce and this one is really a prized catch whenever we get them fresh.

The tender green legumes are available in the winters, in abundance in rural areas and small towns across India, the legumes mostly still attached to the whole plant. Yes, the whole plant is uprooted and sold in markets for a reason. The chana plant gets almost dry and woody when the beans ripe, the rural folk fire up the whole plants in bundles during winter evenings, sitting in their veranda or in the open. A good campfire that results in fire roasted tender green chana which is shelled out of the charred legumes and had with either jaggery or chilly garlic chutney. I see this as a very clever and practical way to spend evenings outdoors in foggy winters of Hindi heartland with a warm nourishing snack being prepared on the spot. It has been ages we did that, it was an occasional thing that we did as kids. Banaras still gets some hara chana horha as the whole plant with green gram is called.

We get these tender harey chane shelled here in Delhi and I buy a bag of it whenever I spot it. I remember how we used to make harey chane ka nimona, ghugni and even desserts (harey chane ka halwa) with it. We are having our fill of harey chane ki subzi with potatoes for spicy winter meals right now. This subzi is also called as ghugni but harey chane ki ghugni will be more dry if made the traditional way.

We mostly have this subzi or ghugni as it is for breakfast, some crackers are had with it sometimes and Arvind wants a crisp flaky paratha with it sometimes. This is something you can even have with rice for a lunch or dinner. Truly versatile as my grandmother used to say..chane ke kayee khaney (many foods with gram), green gram of hara chana is something you wait for the whole year. Small little things to make you happy.

This subzi is more like a quick ghugni that is made with minimal oil and powdered spices. Winter morning are so hassled we want quick and tasty food, something that cooks in a pressure cooker with minimal seasoning and powdered spices from masale ka dabba. Yes, I am reminded of the masala dabba in my mom's kitchen, I don't use any masala dabba now as there just too many spices and powders to keep.

ingredients

hara chana 250 gm

one large potato scrubbed and cubed

everyday curry powder 2 tsp

turmeric powder 1 tsp

chopped coriander greens and stems 2-3 tbsp each

red chilly powder or chopped green chillies to taste

salt to taste

mustard oil 1 tsp or a bit more

sometimes I chuck in a few roughly chopped garlic too

amchoor 1 tsp

procedure

Heat mustard oil in pressure cooker pan and make a paste of all the powdered spices with 2 tbsp water. Tip in the spice paste into the hot oil and stir for a few seconds till the spices get aromatic. 

Add the potato cubes and toss well to coat. Add salt and chopped garlic if using. Add the chopped coriander stems as well, sometimes I add 2-3 tbsp of green chutney to this subzi and get a nice tangy green hued subzi. Add that if you have some chutney in the fridge.

Now add the hara chana, toss to coat well. Add a cup of water and pressure cook till the first whistle blows. Take off the flame, let the pressure get normal, open the lid and add the amchoor powder. 

Mix the subzi well so some of the potatoes get mushed up and make the subzi a mish mash or potatoes and harey chane. Serve hot or at room temperature. This subzi is meant for a rustic meal, a favourite with kachori and poori lovers but we rarely had this with pooris.

Since the subzi tastes so good even at room temperature, Arvind loves it in his lunch box as well. The spicing can be adjusted if you like some aromatic garam masala but we never made this curry with any garam maslaa added. The everyday curry powder works really good for it.

We like a simple salad with harey chane too. A tomato salsa is mixed with rinsed green garbanzo beans and had like a salad or as a tea time snack with added puffed rice to it.

To make the tomato salsa, just chop 2 large tomatoes, microwave them for a minute and mash them with the back of a fork. Add chopped garlic, chopped green chillies to taste, salt and a little mustard oil and mix well. Add a little vinegar if you want to keep the salsa for a day or two in the fridge. Add chopped onions or spring onions and mix with the harey chane or use otherwise. Ass much hara chana for as much tomato salsa you want. Make it to your taste and enjoy.

Another harey chane snack is a quick stir fry in mustard oil and cumin seasoning for us. 

This one is a really nice namkeen type snack with our evening tea. Just heat 1 tsp of mustard oil, chuck in a tsp of whole cumin seeds and may be one broken dry red chilly. Add about 200 gm hara chana and salt to taste, mix well to coat and cover the pan and let it cook for 3-5 minutes on low flame. I do it till the milky ginger tea boils on the other side of the stove. You might need to stir it once or twice in between. Squeeze lime or sprinkle amchoor powder if you wish and have warm with tea.

I know you make some equally yummy snacks with harey chane as well. Share them with me and other readers here. Sharing is a great way to learn more.

I am dreaming of the harey chane ka horha with some hot lasun mirch ki chutney till then. May be I get a chance to taste that smoky goodness this season.

ajwaini arbi and a malabar spinach daal : a meal from your childhood

Ajwaini arbi lifts up a simple meal with it's burst of flavors. The bland arbi gets a nice spicy-tangy coating to be shallow fried till crisp. Goodness in a slimy bland vegetable believe me.

Arbi is colocasia rhizome and I rarely cook this vegetable as the husband doesn't like it much and I don't feel like working on a vegetable which is not green. I get the colocasia leaves whenever I spot them and make this layered rolls called patoda or patra but the rhizome get neglected though it is available throughout the year.

But then I have a habit of buying vegetables by the looks, the most fresh looking vegetables are bought instantly and when I saw these plump and long Arbi at our Mother Dairy outlet sometime back, I couldn't imagine ignoring them. Promptly bought four of those long and plump rhizomes and came back thinking of the ajwaini arbi as the large arbis would make nice steak like fries.

Ajawaini arbi is something you can have on the side if planning a daal-chawal meal. They provide a meaty flavorful tangy-spicy fulfilment to plain dal-chawal meals. This time I was making a nice arhar ki daal with malabar spinach (poi saag) with plain boiled rice and ajwaini arbi fitted in perfectly.

ingredients:
(2 servings as a side dish)
4 large colocasia rhizomes (large arbis)
1/2 cup besan (chickpeas flour)
1 tbsp rice flour
2 tsp amchoor powder
1 tsp ajwain seeds
red chilly powder to taste
salt to taste
mustard oil to shallow fry (about 2 tbsp but the arbi does not absorb all the oil)

procedure:

Boil the arbis in pressure cooker till done. The cooking time will depend on the size of arbis and also on how mature they are so cook for 2-3 minutes under pressure first, check and then cook again if you find them raw. A knife prick will confirm if it is done.

Peel the arbi and keep aside.

Mix all the other ingredients except oil and spread in a shallow plate.

Press the peeled arbi over this dry mix so that the rhizomes get flattened. Coat well with the dry besan mix both sides and shallow fry in hot oil using a flat based frying pan.

Serve hot with daal-chawal meal. The dish takes just about 5 minutes once you have boiled arbis so shallow fry them when the daal and rice are cooked and ready to serve.

I had made this arhar ki daal with malabar spinach with a generous garlic tadka and we loved this meal. I am totally a daal loving person and spinach or any kind of greens in my daal is an absolute delight. I can live on daals and often crave my daals.

The recipe of this daal can be seen here at Down to Earth magazine where I did an article on Malabar spinach. Malabar spinach is a garden vine that many of us grow and keep using frequently. It has many health benefits and is a good substitute for spinach in some recipes. I will post a pumpkin subzi soon with malabar spinach. Stay tuned in.

patta gobhi matar wali subzi | cabbage and peas dry curry

Patta gobhi matar wali subzi has been one of those winter favorites that I start craving as soon as I see tender winter cabbages and tender green peas. I love it the way my mom used to cook it, I remember I used to eat this subzi as it is even in my childhood. I can have it as a meal now.

There are few recipes I haven't made any changes since I started cooking and this is one of those. Luckily, the husband also loves this subzi and it is a frequent winter lunch box subzi for him along with aloo aur harey pyaz ki subzi.

This subzi/curry is more of a north Indian subzi rather than a UP specialty. My mom picked up a lot of Punjabi recipes during our stay in Haryana and Chandigarh and this might have been one of those Punjabi recipes that became family favorites. Like makki ki roti sarson ka saag and chholey or rajma that she used to cook quite frequently. This is a Punjabi way of cooking cabbage and peas with winter new potatoes basically.

 Nothing too difficult about this subzi but there is something very crucial about simple recipes that we are more likely to make mistakes when we don't know the exact time of cooking of ingredients or in what order to add them to the cooking vessel or the combination of seasoning we use. Small changes in an already simple recipe results in a complete different tasting dish. I stick to this recipe immaculately as I don't want even a small change in the flavors. Exactly the way I used to like it in my childhood, this subzi marks the winters for me. Well, at least a part of winters.

ingredients
one medium sized cabbage (about 400 gm)
2 medium new potatoes (about 150 gm)
2 medium tomatoes (about 120 gm)
shelled fresh green peas 150 gm
finely chopped ginger 1 tbsp
chopped green chilies 1 tsp
chopped red onions 1/2 cup
turmeric powder 1 tsp
cumin powder 1 tsp
black pepper powder 1 tsp
mustard oil 2 tbsp
whole cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
salt to taste

procedure

Clean and chop the cabbage roughly.

Clean, rinse and cube the potatoes. No need to peel them if the skin is healthy.

Chop the tomatoes and keep aside.

Heat the mustard oil and tip in the whole cumin seeds. Add the chopped ginger, green chillies and onions as soon as the cumin crackles. Stir fry for a few seconds and add the cubed potatoes. Add salt and turmeric powder and stir fry till the potatoes till they get half cooked. Keep the flame medium low so everything gets cooked evenly.

Add the other powdered spices, green peas and mix well , cook for a couple of minutes to see the peas shriveling. Now add the tomatoes and cook covered till the tomatoes get mushy.

Add the chopped cabbage, mix well and cook covered till the cabbage gets limp and looks translucent. Take care not to cook cabbage on high heat or to let it cook too much. It should retain some bite so the taste is not lost.

This dry curry is a wonderful blend of sweetness of winter vegetables, earthiness of new potatoes and the fresh tartness of tomatoes. You can always adjust the heat in the subzi by adjusting pepper or chilly and add more peas if you like. Potatoes make this curry a wholesome meal for me sometimes may be along with a kaali daal or rajma.

I wouldn't advise this subzi to be made in summers though. The real taste comes in winters when the fresh tender green peas start coming and the cabbage is tender too. Even the new potatoes make a difference so if it is not winter, this subzi will be impossible to get right.

I cooked it last week, and now I am drooling for it as I type. I know it could well be my breakfast tomorrow. I love my vegetables this much you know :-)

Please tell me if this subzi was made the same way in your home as well? Try it if not.