Aloo Palak

My husband is not a great fan of paneer. Which is good in a way because it makes our dishes less fatty. On the other hand it prevents me from trying our paneer specific recipes, such as paneer makhani, butter paneer etc. I try to substitute paneer with potatoes whenever I can, and so I tried a "potato" version of palak paneer. It turned out really good and I was amazed to see how much spinach went into the dish. It's a great way to sneak greens into the diet.

This recipe makes 4 servings.

Ingredients
Spinach - 1 bunch (If using baby spinach from the packet, use half the packet)
Onion - 1 medium
Boiled Potatoes - 4 medium, chopped
Garlic - 3 cloves, chopped
Oil - 2 tablespoons
Salt - 1 teaspoon, or to taste
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 teaspoons
Green Chillies - 3, or to taste
Cumin Coriander Powder - 1 teaspoon
Garam Masala - 1 teaspoon
Fenugreek leaves (Kasuri Methi) - 1 teaspoon

Procedure
1) Wash the spinach and remove the leaves if using the bunch.
2) Chop the onions. They don't need to be too fine because you will grind them anyway.
3) Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan/kadhai and add the onions, green chillies and garlic. Saute until onion has brown edges.

4) To the pan add spinach.

 5) Cover with a lid and let the spinach wilt. It will take only about a minute or so.

6) The spinach reduces to so little! Now let the mixture cool and then blend it with little water.
7) In the same pan, heat oil and add some cumin seeds. When the start sizzling, add the potatoes and saute them till they are browned around the edges.
8) Add the spinach puree and salt. Add some cumin coriander masala and crushed fenugreek leaves and stir. If you didn't add much water while blending, add half a cup of water.
9) Cover with a lid and let it simmer on a low flame for 6-7 minutes. Check every now and then to make sure it isn't sticking to the bottom.
10) Optionally, you can add some cream or milk to make the dish taste richer (I didn't).
11) Do a taste-test to see if you need more spice.
That's it! Serve with roti, naan, or rice.

Marathi style Puran Poli

In India and particularly in the states of Gujrat and Maharashtra, puran poli is synonymous with the festival of Holi. As a child, I always remember the Holi day routine of playing with friends, coming home drenched in water and colors, taking a long bath to get rid of the "gulaal" and then having a sumptuous lunch of puran poli with family.  Though we are quite far from Holi at this time, we had a craving for puran poli this weekend, which hubby dearest happens to be a great fan of.

Some people make puran poli with toor dal, but in Maharastra it has traditionally been made with chana dal. I personally like more with the flavor and aroma of chana dal. During older times, making puran poli wasn't such an easy affair. People meticulously used "puran yantra" to crush and make a smooth mixture with the dal. But of course, with growing number of kitchen gadgets and lesser time on hand, there are quicker and less time consuming methods available now.

Puran poli is served with katachi amti, which is a delicious sweet-tangy-spicy accompaniment to puran poli and compliments it perfectly. Katachi amti is made with water that's leftover after you boil the chana dal. So to have enough amti, make sure to boil the dal in lots of water.

In this post, I will show you step by step method of making puran polis. Give it a try, you will love them!

This recipe makes about 10-11 puran polis.

Ingredients
For the roti dough
Whole Wheat Flour or Atta : 2 cups
Salt : 1/2 teaspoon
For the puran
Chana Dal : 1 cup
Sugar : 1 cup (adjust according to your taste)
Nutmeg : 1/4 teaspoon
Cardamom : 1/4 teaspoon
For katachi amti
Water left over from cooking chana dal : 3 cups (or whatever remains after boiling)
Oil : 1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds : 1/2 teaspoon
Jeera/Cumin seeds : 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric : 1/4 teaspoon
Red Chilly Powder : 1/2 teaspoon
Salt : 1/2 teaspoon
Hing : 1/2 teaspoon
Curry leaves : 4-5
Tamarind paste : 1 tablespoon
Sugar : 1 teaspoon

Procedure
1) Boil chana dal in about 4 cups water with a pinch of salt until it is very soft and tender to touch. I usually pressure cook it for 5-6 whistles.
2) While the dal is boiling, prepare the roti dough. Mix 1/2 teaspoon salt with atta and knead with adequate amount of water to make s soft and pliable dough. Cover it with a cotton cloth and set aside.
3) Drain the boiled dal and reserve the water.
 
4) In a non stick pan, pour the drained dal and add the sugar. Start with 3/4 cup and increase until you get to the sweetness level you like. For us, usually 1:1 ratio of dal and sugar works well.
5) Add ground nutmeg powder and keep mixing and mashing until you get a smooth paste without any traces of whole dal. The consistency of the mixture is really important - if you make it too dry, the puran poli will be crumbly and if you leave it too moist, the filling will come out while rolling.
6) When the mixture starts leaving the sides of the pan, sprinkle ground cardamom powder and transfer to another plate to cool.

7) You will know you got the right consistency of the paste when you can form soft balls of the mixture. Make small balls of the roti dough as well as the filling. The filling ball should be approximately 1.5 times the roti dough.

8) Heat the tava/griddle. Roll out the roti dough into a small circle, and as much as possible try to roll out the sides instead of the center.

9) Add the filling and pull the edges of the dough together and twist it on the top. Remove the excess.

10) Press the dough ball lightly and set aside. Do the same for all the dough balls.
 
11) Roll out the dough you set aside the first (which has been sitting around the longest). Apply very gently pressure while rolling it out or the mixture will come out of all sides!

12) Place the poli on the griddle/tava and flip it when you see bubbles appear. Smear some ghee (optional) and after a few seconds, flip it again. Smear ghee on this side as well.
13) When both sides are nicely done, remove from tava and continue the process for the next one.

14) For making katachi amti, heat oil in a pan. When the oil is hot enough, add mustard seeds. When they crackle, add jeera, hing, curry leaves.
15) Add the turmeric and red chilly powder and immediately add the water from chana dal.
16) When the water comes to a boil, add tamarind paste, salt, and sugar.
17) Let it boil for 3-4 minutes. Check the taste and add ingredients as required.

Serve piping hot with Puran Poli! 

Power Packed Spinach Paratha

My favorite pastime during the day is to view YouTube recipe videos and reading food blogs. Favorite pastime during the evening is to think about what dishes I want to make this weekend. At night I snuggle up with a cookbook. You got the idea, I am pretty obsessed with food. During one of the 768958 hours that I was on YouTube, I stumbled across this recipe (among many others) for palak cabbage paratha. I didn't think adding cabbage to the paratha was such a great idea, but since I had some left over, I added it anyway,   and I am so glad I did. It adds a wonderful crunch to the paratha and makes it even more nutritious.

This recipe serves 4.

Ingredients

Whole Wheat Flour or Atta : 2 cups

Grated Cabbage : 1 cup

Spinach - 2 cups
Green chillies - 2-3, or to taste

Salt - 1 tsp 

Ajwain or Carom Seeds - 0.5 tsp (Optional)

Oil - 1 tbsp

Recipe
1) In a blender, puree spinach leaves and green chillies to a fine paste using very little water.
2) In a large bowl, add flour, grated cabbage, salt, carom seeds, and spinach puree.
3) Start kneading the dough. Be very careful and add water only if you need it. The cabbage will let out a lot of moisture and you also added some water to the spinach puree.
4) Add oil and knead again to coat the dough with oil evenly.
5) Cover and keep the dough aside for 10 minutes.
6) Heat a griddle and make golf size balls of the dough. 
7) Roll the parathas taking care that they are not too thin. Use some flour to prevent the paratha from sticking to the rolling surface.
8) Put the paratha on the griddle and let it cook until small bubbles appear on the surface. Flip it and let it cook until it has brown spots all over the surface. Flip it again and let it cook similarly on the other side. At this point you may choose to apply some oil or butter (ghee) on either or both sides of the paratha.
9) Continue the process for other parathas.

I served these with just pickle and yogurt, since they are so flavorful on their own!

My Favorite Food Ever: Idli Sambar

Is there any such food that you love so much that it makes you feel alive and leaves a smile of satisfaction on your face? I don't mean to sounds crazy but Idli-Sambhar does have that effect on me. It makes me feel better about everything (Pittsburgh and Winter included). My husband always says that I should have been born in south India for my love of all kinds of idlis and dosas. I could eat them all day. And night. But, since you are not here to read about my obsessions, we'll move on to the recipe.

Now this may not be the authentic recipe since I, unfortunately, do not actually come from the South and this recipe is a mixture of my mom's recipe+some blogs+my own touch. But it sure is yummy enough to remind you of Udipi hotels back in India. Let's get ya droolin', shall we?

The recipe serves 4 regular people, or one if it's me.

Ingredients
For the idli batter
Rice (I used basmati, but you can also use Sona Masoori or any other non-sticky rice) : 1 cup
Urad Dal : 1/3 cup and 1 tablespoon
Methi (Fenugreek) Seeds: 4-5
Salt - about 2-3 teaspoons

For Sambhar
Toor Dal : 1 cup
Oil : 2 tablespoons
Hing : 1/2 teaspoon
Green Chillies : 2, finely chopped
Garlic : 2 cloves, finely chopped
Onion : 1 small, finely chopped
Curry Leaves : 4-5
Cumin Seeds : 1/2 teaspoon
Mustard Seeds : 1/2 teaspoon
Tomato : 1
Tamarind paste : 1 tablespoon
Salt : 2 teaspoons, or as needed
Sugar: 1 teaspoon
Turmeric Powder: 1 teaspoon
Red Chilly Powder: 1-2 teaspoons, according to taste
Carrot : about half a cup, chopped
Frozen Peas : about 1/4 cup
Sambhar Masala/Powder (I use Eastern Sambhar masala, but Everest and MTR are good too): 1 tablespoon

Procedure
For the Idlis
1) You need to plan ahead for this one. If you want to serve tomorrow evening, plan to start with the prep today evening. Wash and soak the rice, urad dal, and methi seeds with about 4 cups of water overnight.
2) Next morning, discard the water and grind the soaked mixture to a paste adding little water as required. Too much water will hinder the fermentation process, so only add as little as needed. It might be helpful to grind in batches if your blender does not have supernatural grinding powers (my humble Oster doesn't).
3) Add salt and mix well. Leave the batter to ferment in a warm spot for 10-12 hours. I usually preheat my oven to 240F (or the lowest temperature) and leave it for about 3-4 minutes before placing the batter in the oven. I've also found steel utensils to work much better for fermentation than plastic or glass for their ability to retain heat longer. If you are lucky enough to live in a warm place, you can leave the batter out in the sun.
4) You know the fermentation gods are happy when your batter rises to twice its original volume. Those little air bubbles will make your idlis spongy and soft.
5) Now start heating about 1.5 cups of water in a pressure cooker, without the lid on. Remove the small lid/weight from the whistle to let the steam escape as the idlis are cooking.
6) Grease your idli stand and pour the batter into the cavities. I have a "mini" idli stand so I can only scoop about a tablespoon batter in each.
7) Make sure that you arrange the cavities over the small hole provided for steaming in the idli stand. That way, the water from the above cavity does not directly fall on the idli below. Explaining that was complicated and I'm still not sure if that makes sense. Please let me know if it doesn't. I'm not even sure if it's called a "cavity", but I think you know what I mean. Here's a picture:

8)  By this time, the water in the pressure cooker should be steaming. Place the idli stand in the water and make sure that the bottom layer does not get submerged or even touch the water. Letting idlis go waste is an offence in my part of the town.
9) Let the idlis cook on medium-high for about 15-17 minutes. Then remove from flame and let it rest for 5-6 more minutes.
10) Use a knife or a spoon to run around the edges and dislodge the idlis.
11) Continue the process for remaining batter. Before doing that, eat one to make sure its cooked through and salted enough. Just to be sure, eat another one. And another. Maybe just one more, but that's it.
OK, one last if no one's watching.

Making the Sambhar
1) In a pressure cooker or another pan, cook toor daal until it is cooked through and mashable.
2) In another pan or kadhai, heat oil and add mustard and cumin seeds. When they splutter, add hing, onion, curry leaves, garlic, and chillies. Cook until onions are pink and translucent.

3) Add tomatoes and cook them for 2 minutes, until they are all mashed up.

4) Add turmeric powder and red chilly powder and saute for a minute.
5) Add the mashed toor daal and mix well to combine.

6) When the bubbles start appearing around the edges, add salt, sambhar powder, and sugar. Mix well.
7)  Add tamarind paste and stir to make sure no lumps remain.
8) Add water if the sambhar appears too thick. Do a taste-test and adjust accordingly.
9) Garnish with cilantro and serve!

Don't the idlis above look like a bunch of people chilling in the pool? :) 

Healthy and Yum Vegetable Corn Chowder

Corn chowder is great to have as a soup on the side, or with rustic bread as a wholesome meal. I don't usually cook with meat so I kept this version mostly vegetarian (I did add chicken broth, but you can easily substitute for vegetable broth). Corn chowder has a ton of veggies in it so its very nutritious and great for you.
I love it when healthy does not directly translate to cardboard eating.

Ingredients
Frozen (or fresh, boiled) corn - 1 and 1/4 cup
Olive Oil - 1 tablespoon
Onions - 1 small, chopped
Garlic - 2 cloves, finely chopped
Thyme - 1/2 teaspoon
Rosemary - 1/2 teaspoon
Boiled Potatoes - 2 small, chopped into bite sized chunks
Celery - 1 stalk, chopped
Carrots - 1, peeled and chopped
Red Bell Pepper - 1/2, chopped
Zucchini  - 1/2 cup when chopped
Milk - 1/2 cup
Chicken (or vegetable) broth - 1/2 cup
All Purpose Flour - 2 tablespoons
Salt - 1 teaspoon, or to taste
Pepper - 1/2 teaspoon, or to taste

Procedure
1) Chop all the veggies and set them aside. Pulse 1 cup corn in a blender with 1/2 cup water until they are a chunky paste.
2) Heat olive oil in a pan or soup pot and add garlic and onions. Saute till onions are translucent.
3) Add thyme and rosemary and saute for a minute.
4) Add the veggies : carrots, celery, bell pepper, potatoes, zucchini. Throw in some salt and pepper and saute for 3-4 minutes on medium flame.
5) Add the corn puree and stir.
6) Add the chicken broth and let it simmer for 4-5 minutes on a medium-low flame.
7) In a cup, stir together milk and all purpose flour until no lumps remain.
8) Add the milk to the pot and stir.
9) Let it simmer for a few minutes and then do a taste-test to check if you need to add salt or pepper. You can also choose to add some water if soup appears too thick, but chowder tastes best when its slightly on the thicker side.
10) Add the remaining 1/4 cup corn and serve warm!

This soup is reminiscent of the Veg. Sweet Corn soup that is popular in India.

Baingan Bharta (Vangyache Bharit)

They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. In our household, this certainly holds true. Luckily, my husband is non fussy and pretty easy to please when it comes to food. There are some dishes though, that win me more affection and quite a lot of appreciation! Baingan bharta, or vangyache bharit as we call it in Marathi, is of those dishes. The key to a good bharta is the smoky flavor that comes from roasting the eggplant directly on the flame or even better, on coal. For people who are not blessed with a gas stove, you may use the electric stove, oven, or steam the eggplant. Unfortunately, the flavor will suffer a little. If you are cooking for someone special, you may also be able to get their help with cleaning the stove, for these eggplants sure are messy!

Making a bharta starts with choosing the right kind of eggplant. The bigger the better? Absolutely not. The larger ones tend to have more seeds and are harder to cook. You want to go with the ones that are medium sized and a little soft to touch. These are the ones that will have the most juices and impart a beautiful flavor to the dish. These are, unfortunately, also the ones who will make you use your elbow grease for cleaning after cooking on the flame, as a lot of juice will also run out as you cook!

I add my mom-in-law's touch to this dish and use Spring Onions in the recipe. I think it works really well.

This recipe serves 4.

Ingredients
Eggplants (Medium sized) - 2
Olive Oil - 1 tablespoon and 3 tablespoons (divided)
Spring Onions - 4 bulbs with leaves
Hing/Asafoetida - a pinch
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Jeera (Cumin seeds) - 1/2 teaspoon
Tomato Puree - 3 tablespoons
Salt - 1.5 teaspoon or to taste
Green Chillies - 4 (or to taste)
Garlic - 3-4 cloves
Ginger - 1 small bulb (about a tablespoon when minced)
Dhania Jeera Powder - 1 teaspoon
Red Chilli powder - 2 teaspoons (or to taste)
Haldi powder (Turmeric) - 1 teaspooon

Procedure
1) Wash the eggplant and wipe them dry. Apply about half a tablespoon olive oil (or any oil that you use) evenly on the eggplants.
2) Place the eggplants directly on the flame (one of each stove) and let it roast evenly on all sides. You may want to roast about 5-7 minutes on each side until it is cooked through and the skin looks charred. Be very careful when dealing with the eggplants directly on the flame!
3) When the eggplants are roasted, place them on to a large plate and set them aside to let them cool down.
4) While the eggplants are cooling, chop the green onion.
5) Prepare a paste of ginger, garlic and chillies. Ever since I've discovered how easy it is to make this paste at home and how much of an difference it makes to the overall flavor of the dish, I have stopped using readymade pastes. I use a small Oster mixer attachment that my parents brought me from India that does an amazing job grinding and making pastes!
Throw the chillies, ginger, and garlic into the grinder..

and two seconds later..voila! It probably costs much lesser too.

6) Place the paste aside and peel the eggplants.

7) Mash 'em up with a potato masher or back of a spoon. Try not to lose any of the precious juice!

8) Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a pan and add jeera and mustard seeds. Let them crackle and then add a pinch of hing.
9) Add chopped spring onions and a pinch of salt. Let them cook till they are slightly wilted.

10) Add the chilly-ginger-garlic paste and cook until the raw smell disappears, a minute or two.
11) Add tomato puree and let it cook for another minute or two, until bubbles appear around the edges.
12) Add the spices - haldi (turmeric), red chilly powder, dhania jeera powder and give it a good mix.

13) Add the mashed eggplant mixture and salt and mix to combine.
14) Cook on a low flame for 10 minutes. If your eggplants were juicy enough you won't need any water. If they were dry then you can add a tablespoon or two.

I served my bharta with jowar bhakri, thecha (red chilly paste, not for the meek!), and sliced onions sprinkled with lemon juice. I also had salted buttermilk on the side to bring down the spiciness a little :)

Hope you enjoy the dish!

Hearty Italian Veggie Soup

There are some days when all you want is a nice and warm bowl of soup. This Italian Veggie Soup is perfect for one of those days, and feels especially satisfying on cold winter nights. It is like a carnival of flavors and is really and canvas, that you can play with endlessly to match your preferences. This soup goes really well with Garlic Pull-Apart Rolls or freshly baked dinner rolls.

Ingredients
Olive Oil - 2 tablespoons
Garlic - 3-4 cloves
Onion - 1 small
Diced Green Bell Pepper - 1 cup
Carrot - 1
Canned Crushed Tomatoes - 1 cup
Frozen Corn - 1/4 cup
Crushed Red Pepper Flakes - about a teaspoon, or to taste
Salt - 2-3 teaspoons or to taste
Dried Rosemary - 1 teaspoon
Dried Thyme - 1 teaspoon
Chicken broth - 1 cup
Water - 0.5 cup
Italian Seasoning - 1 teaspoon or to taste

Procedure
1) Get all your ingredients ready - mince the garlic, dice the onion (does not have to be too fine), peel and dice the carrot and the bell pepper.
2) In a soup pot or a pan, start heating the olive oil on medium heat. You can substitute for vegetable or canola if you don't have olive oil on hand.
3) One the oil is heated enough, throw in the minced garlic and diced onion and saute for two minutes, until the onion and garlic start browning on the edges.
3) Add in the carrot and bell pepper and saute for two more minutes. You can also add other veggies that you like at this step (artichokes, boiled potatoes, zucchini) or omit some that you don't.
4) Add the crushed tomatoes and cook until bubbles appear on the surface and around the edges.
5) Add the chicken broth and half a cup water and mix well.
6) Add in the seasonings - crushed red bell pepper, salt, thyme, rosemary.
If I ever met the person who discovered thyme and rosemary, I would hug them for 10 minutes. Maybe more.
7) Let the soup cook for about 7-8 minutes on medium heat. Add the corn and let it cook for a minute more. Do a taste-test and adjust the seasonings until you love the balance of the flavors. Add water if the soup appears too thick.

Sprinkle some more Italian seasoning while serving the soup. A spoonful of pesto mixed just before serving also gives a very interesting dimension to this soup!

Serve warm with pull apart rolls, dinner rolls, or a Foccacia and enjoy your supper!

Easy Carrot-Cucumber Paratha

I love Carrot-Cucumber parathas as they are easy to make, pack a lot of punch (Read : whole wheat, carrots, cucumbers, low fat), and they can be served just by themselves! Parathas, in general, are very versatile. There are so many varieties of parathas like Gobi (Cauliflower), Aloo (Potato), Mooli (Radish) and there is always an opportunity to mix and match the ingredients. I make my parathas without much oil or fat. But according to the original recipe, they are to be dunked in butter (ghee) or oil. It just depends on your preference. Either way, these are scrumptious.

Ingredients

Whole Wheat Flour or Atta - 2 cups

Seedless Cucumber (preferred, or with seeds would also work) - 1 large

Carrot - 1

Salt - 3 tsp (divided)

Ajwain or Carom Seeds - 0.5 tsp (Optional)

Red Chilly Powder - 1 tsp

Haldi or Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Procedure

1) Remove the skin of the cucumber. Grate it and add 1 tsp salt. Let it sit in a for about 10 mins so that all the water has oozed out. If your cucumber was not seedless, pick and toss out all the seeds.

2) In the meanwhile, de-skin and grate the carrot. There should not be much water to get rid of, so you can leave it as it is.

3) To get your dough going, mix together the flour, 2 tsp salt, tumeric powder, ajwain, and red chilly powder.

4) Using your hands, squeeze out as much water as possible out of the grated cucumber and reserve the water.

5) Add grated carrot and cucumber to the flour mixture and start kneading.

Add very little reserved cucumber juice at a time to make a soft pliable dough. It is important to add water very little at a time as the cucumber has tendency to give out water and dough becomes very sticky if not careful. If it does, just add some more flour but avoid adding too much as it will throw off the balance of the ingredients.

6) Add oil and continue kneading for a minute or two.

7) Cover the dough with a kitchen cloth and let it rest for 10 minutes.

8) Heat a griddle and make golf size balls of the dough. Roll the parathas taking care that they are not too thin. Use some flour to prevent the paratha from sticking to the rolling surf.ace.

9) Put the paratha on the griddle and let it cook until small bubbles appear on the surface. Flip it and let it cook until it has brown spots all over the surface. Flip it again and let it cook similarly on the other side. At this point you may choose to apply some oil or butter (ghee) on either or both sides of the paratha.

10) Continue the process for other parathas.

These parathas are great served just with yogurt and pickle, or can be served with the curry of your choice. I love tomato curry prepared in Gujrati style to go with these parathas. This is a great wholesome option when you want to have a quick dinner and have limited ingredients at hand! You could also skip the cucumber and increase the quantity of carrots to make just carrot parathas, but the flavor that cucumber imparts to this parathas is refreshing to the palate. Give it a try!