Heerekayi Rasa Palya(Beerakaya koora, chinese okra gravy)

The ever so enjoyed vegetable in all parts of India, here in US its called Chinese Okra and is available in asian markets. Lately I have been experimenting a bit with this vegetable and have come out with this delicious gravy vegetable that goes well with chapathi or rice.

Ingredients:
Chinese okra - 1 medium, rough edges peeled(save for gravy), quartered and cut into large pieces
Chana dal - 1 tbsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Whole Dhaniya - 1 tsp
Methi seeds - 1/2 tsp
Sesame seeds - 1tbsp
Green chillies - 2, cut into small pieces(or more to taste)
Tamarind pulp - 1 tbsp
Brown sugar or jaggery - 1 tbsp(optional, some people don't like the sweetish taste)
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tbsp + 1/2 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1 oinch
Curry leaves - 5-6

Method:
In a small non-stick pan, heat 1/2 tbsp oil, when hot enough add chana dal and urad dal, fry till light golden in color, add methi seeds, mustard seeds, jeera seeds, dhaniya seeds and fry another minute, don't let the dals burn, add sesame seeds. Just when the sesame seeds start spluttering add green chillies and the peel of okra that you have been saving all the while, wondering what to do with that, and cover and cook till the okra peel and green chillies get soft. Let it cool. In the meantime, in another deep cooking pot, add 1 tbsp oil, when hot add curry leaves and a pinch of turmeric, add the chinese okra pieces, mix well and cover for 2-5 min. While the okra is cooking grind the above fried dal and green chillies with tamarind pulp and a little water to get a fine paste. When they are a little soft add salt and the ground masala paste and cook for another 5 min. Enjoy with chapathi or hot rice.

Shahi Tukda

It was just one of those days when you want to have some simple dessert and easy to fix. Well I was thinking of something that I had not made in a long long time. It was a bit too much with calories and fat, but hey you can splurge once in a while. So I made this Hyderabadi(since I come from Hyderabad) dish made out of bread, well don't confuse this with double ka meetha, which is also made out of bread, but Double ka meetha is soaked in sugar syrup and is baked afterwards to give a distinct flavor. Someday I'll also post Double ka meetha so you will know the difference. I don't want to confuse you guys, so right now just enjoy the Shahi Tukda, and I don't know how it came up with this name, maybe because its so rich that in those days only the kings or rich moghuls could afford to eat this.

Ingredients:

Wheat bread or white bread - 6 slices, cut the edges and cut into triangles
Whole Milk - 6 cups
Sweetened condensed milk - 1 can
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Ghee(Clarified butter) - 2 tbsp
Pistachios - 2 tbsp, thinly sliced

Method:
In a wide thick bottomed pan boil milk, stirring continuously till it gets to about 4 cups, add condensed milk and boil another 10 min, add cardamom powder and let it sit. While the milk is boiling, in a non-stick pan heat ghee and when the ghee is hot enough, don't let it smoke, shallow fry the bread pieces, drain in the pan while taking them out, these bread pieces should be golden but not deep brown. Arrange the bread slices in a serving tray and when you are ready to serve pour over the milk and garnish with pistachios. Enjoy!

Stuffed Eggplant Karnatka Style(Badanekayi Ennegayi)

There are many ways of preparing stuffed eggplant and if you go online you will find hundreds of good recipes. I haven't met a person who doesn't like stuffed eggplants and this dish is relished by a lot of people, though each one has their own way of making stuffed eggplants. When we were kids and used to travel by train in India, we used to carry our food to eat on the way. Those days it was not common to eat fast food or food in restaurants or dhabas. One of our favorite travel food was stuffed eggplants, and this is one of the dishes that tastes good even when its cold. This is my mom's way of making stuffed eggplant, hassle-free and yummy. My brother and I enjoyed stuffing those cute round eggplants with the stuffing my mom used to prepare and then we would enjoy the eggplants with Jowar rotis(jolada rotti), which were so delicious.



Ingredients:
Round indian eggplants - 10, washed and slit cross-wise
Roasted peanuts - 1 cup
Roasted sesame seeds - 1/2 cup
Tamarind paste - 1 tbsp
Sambar powder - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Jaggery or brown sugar - 1/2 tbsp
Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Dhaniya powder - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp + 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Jeera seeds - 1 tsp



Method:
Make a powder of roasted peanuts and sesame seeds. Take the peanut powder and sesame powder in a big bowl, add tamarind paste, sambar powder, salt, turmeric powder, jaggery, red chilli powder, dhaniya powder and 1 tbsp oil, mix well and stuff this in the slit eggplants. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan, when hot add mustard seeds, jeera seeds, when the seeds splutter gently add the stuffed eggplants, sprinkle about half a cup of water, cover and cook on medium-low flame for 5 min. After 5 min. turn them over gently with a spatula, taking care not to break the eggplants, check to see if the gravy is too dried out, in which case you will need to add anothr half cup of water, cover and cook for another 10 min. Turn the heat off when the eggplants are soft enough, don't overcook the eggplants otherwise they will be very mushy. This eggplant curry can be best enjoyed with chapathis.

Spinach-coconut chutney

I read about this chutney on Shilpa of www.aayisrecipes.com site and liked the idea of spinach in a chutney. I modified it a bit to adjust to my taste and it has been so succesful that now I always add spinach in coconut chutney. It gives great color, it tastes great and best of all its nutritious. Plus my friends who've tasted the chutney love it and couldn't believe till I told them that the green ingredient in the chutney is spinach and not coriander. So here comes the recipe!

Ingredients:
Spinach - 1 cup, washed and chopped finely
Fresh or frozen coconut - 1 cup
Methi(fenugreek seeds) - 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds(Jeera) - 1/2 tsp
Tamarind - 4-5 strands, cleaned and soaked in warm water
Green chillies - 5-6(adjust according to your taste), chopped
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Asafoetida(hing) - 1 pinch

Method:
In a shallow pan, heat 1 tbsp oil, add methi seeds, when they turn brown add chopped spinach and half a cup of water, cover and cook for 5 min. When the spinach cools down, take it in a blender, add coconut, cumin seeds, tamarind, green chillies and salt and blend it to a smooth paste. If you don't want to mash up the spinach, you can grind coconut and everything else first and then add spinach and just pulse it in the blender for a few seconds. Take it out in a bowl and mix well. In another shallow pan make a seasoning with 1 tbsp oil, add mustard seeds and hing and pour over the chutney. Mix well and Enjoy!

Tomato Chutney

Tomato Chutney

Ingredients:
Tomatoes - 6, washed and diced
Tamarind - 1 lime size ball, cleaned and soaked in warm water
Chana Dal - 1 tsp
Urad Dal- 1 tsp
Methi - 1/4 tsp
Coriander seeds - 1/2 tsp
Dry Red Chillies - 6(adjust according to taste)
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Turmeric - 1 pinch
Oil- 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Method:
In a large pot heat 1/2 tbsp oil, when hot add turmeric powder and tomatoes and cook on medium flame till, tomatoes get soft and viscous. In the meantime, in another shallow pan, add another 1/2 tbsp oil, when hot add chana dal and fry till color changes a bit, add urad dal and fry for another few seconds. Now add red chillies, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, methi seeds and fry till the methi seeds turn brown. Take off the heat and let cool down a bit. In the meantime, the cooked tomatoes will also cool down. Now blend together the tomatoes, fried masala, tamarind and salt to a fine paste. Let this chutney cool down. Make a seasoning of 1 tbsp oil, add cumin seeds and after the oil cools down add this to the tomato chutney. Tastes great with rice, idli and dosa.

Radish Salad with Peanut-coriander dressing

Yeah! One of those days when you feel like having a hearty salad with zesty dressing. Well that's what I came up with last month, but was too lazy to post it. When my sister-in-law was here, she was amazed to see that we get mooli(radish) here, so this was one of the salads I made to impress her.

Ingredients:
Daikon radish(mooli) - 1 medium, peeled and sliced thin
English cucumbers(or any cucumber) - 2 medium, peeled and sliced
Carrots - 2 medium, peeled and sliced
Lettuce - 1 cup, washed and finely chopped
Coriander for garnish - few sprigs, washed

Dressing:
Roasted peanuts - 1 tbsp
Coriander - 1/2 cup, washed and finely chopped
Green chilli - 1, chopped
Lime juice - 2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Yogurt - 1 cup
Blend together all the above dressing ingredients in a blender and make a smooth puree and refrigerate.

In a salad tray arrange all the salad veggies and cover till ready to serve. When you are ready to serve the salad, drizzle the dressing and top with coriander for garnish. Enjoy!

Kulfi, The Easy way

A good friend of mine in Minnesota shared this wonderful and easy recipe for Kulfi, and since then I've made this kulfi to impress my guests and enjoyed it every time. Its a very simple and quick recipe, and I hope you all will try this and enjoy!

Ingredients:
Evaporated Milk - 1 can
Sweetened Condensed milk - 1 can
Heavy whipping cream - 1/2 liter, about 500 ml
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Almond pieces
Pistachio pieces(save some almond and pistachio pieces for garnish)
2-3 slices of white or wheat bread(use only 2 slices if using whole wheat bread)

Method"
Blend together evaporated milk, condensed milk, heavy whipping cream, cardamom powder, almond and pisatchios and pour them into moulds, garnish with remaining almonds and pistachios and freeze them till ready to serve. You can also freeze them first and garnish them later. You can use only almond or only pistachios and if you don't have either of them, it still is ok and you will still get great kulfis.

Enjoy!