The other day I invited my sister-in-law’s mother for dinner. The challenge was that she is a vegetarian and doesn’t eat onion and garlic. So after a lot of long distance telecons with my sister, these are the items I prepared for her.
Corn cutlets with mint and corriander chutney (starters)
Ingredients: for chutney
Coriander leaves and mint leaves in equal proportions, green chilly 1 or 2. Grind with salt to taste. Add lemon juice (optional).
Ingredients: for cutlets
Sweet corn roughly ground 1 cup. 2 large potatoes boiled and mashed well. Ginger ( julien) 1tsp. green chilly chopped 2. Chopped mint and coriander leaves 2tsps. Chaat masala 2 tsps.
Method:
Put 2 tsps oil in a pan on the fire and stir in the roughly ground corn to take the rawness out of it. Add it to the mashed potatoes. Add all other ingredients and salt. Mix well and form small balls and flatten. Fry on a non stick tava on low heat with very little oil. Serve with the chutney. You can sprinkle the cutlets with some chaat masala.
Coriander lemon soup
Ingredients:
Thinly sliced baby corn 4-5, corn flour 2tbsp, coriander leaves finely chopped 2 tbsp, lemon juice, ground black pepper.
Method:
Boil the baby corn in 2 bowls of water for 5 mins. Add another three bowls of water and when it comes to a boil pour in the corn flour properly mixed in a bowl of water. Keep stirring till the soup thickens. Add the chopped coriander leaves and boil for a minute. Add salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste. Will serve 6-7 people.
Baby potatoes, paneer and peas in tomato curry.
Ingredients:
Baby potatoes 10 or so (same size), paneer 200gms, green peas 200gms, tomatoes 4 medium, coriander powder, turmeric powder, small slice of ginger, Kashmiri mirch (whole) 2, cardamoms 2, cloves 4, bayleaves 2.
Method:
Peel and fry the potatoes till golden and keep separate.Fry the paneer sliced into small squares and keep with the potatoes. Grind all the spices to a paste, (soaking the kashmiri mirch for a couple of hours brings out the color). Put the bay leaves In the remaining oil and add the ground masala paste soon after and fry till the fried smell emanates. Add the tomatoes cut into small pieces. Fry till it leaves the sides of the pan. Add the potatoes, paneer and the peas and stir till coated with the masala. Add salt to taste. Add 2 cups of water. Simmer till potatoes are cooked.
"Phool-Kopir Dalna" (Cauliflower curry Bengali style)
Ingredients:
1medium sized cauliflower separated into flowerettes, 2large size potatoes, 2 medium tomatoes, a piece of ginger, ½ spoon cumin seeds, coriander powder 1spoon, black pepper1/3 spoon, red chilly powder 1/3 spoon, 2 Bay leaves, 4cloves, 2 cardamoms, turmeric powder 1 spoon, asoeftida a tiny ball. 2tbsp curd (optional), a bit of jaggery.
Method:
Soak the cauliflower flowerettes in boiling hot water for an hour or so. Make sure you have slit the stems so that they cook well. Peel and slice potatoes to match the size of the flowerettes, so that both cook the same amount. Grind the cumin seeds, ginger, black and red pepper, coriander power and turmeric powder together. (If the turmeric colouring your hands or the grinder bothers you, just stir in the powder in the masala paste later.)
Put oil on fire. First fry the sliced potatoes till golden then add the flowerettes and fry for till the flowerettes have a fried smell and have marginally changed colour. Take out of pan and keep separately. In the samepan add a little more oil (the cauliflower soaks all the oil you put in so if you are calorie conscious save 1 tbsp oil for the masala from the amount you plan to use) Add the bay leaves, then the cloves, cardamoms and asoeftida. Stir in the masala paste and fry for a few minutes till a nice fried smell emanates from it. Add the tomatoes cut into very small pieces. Add a little salt and keep frying till the masala leaves the sides of the pan. Add the potatoes and cauliflower and stir till coated with masala. Add the whipped curd stir some more, add salt to taste and a cup of water. Throw in a bit of jaggery to balance the taste. Simmer till cooked. The cooked vegetable should not be totally dry. Garnish with coriander leaves and green chillies.
Rajma
Ingredients:
1 cup of Rajma soaked and boiled with salt. Desi ghee 2tsps, fresh ground pepper, fresh ground cumin seeds, basil leaves (optional).
Method:
Put the ghee in a pan and when hot add the rough ground cumin seeds and then the ground pepper, add the boiled rajma and cook for a while with a cover, add the basil leaves before taking off the fire. If the gravy is too liquid just mash some of the Rajma till it thickens.
Spinach walnut Raita:
Ingredients:
1 cup whipped curd, a handful of spinach thinly sliced, 4-5 walnuts roughly broken. Ground pepper.
Method:
Boil the spinach for 2 mins and strain. Add into the curd. Add salt and pepper as per taste. Garnish with the walnuts.
Gajar ka halwa
Ingredients: 4-5 red carrots grated, sugar, dry fruits chopped, almonds soaked and sliced, raisins, malai or a cupful of milk reduced to khowa. Desi ghee (optional)
Method:
In a thick bottomed covered pan put the grated carrots with sufficient sugar on low heat. Stir from time to time so it doesn’t burn. Add the chopped dry fruits and raisins at the beginning itself. Garnish with the khowa and sliced almonds. If you don’t mind making it a little heavy, put a tbsp of desi ghee in a pan put some cardomums and fry the halwa for a few minutes, to give added flavour, before garnishing it.
Shahi tukda
Ingredients:
Square pieces of brown bread, thick sugar syrup, malai or thickened milk, desi ghee, sliced almonds and pistachios, few strands of saffron. Rose and kewra essence.
Method:
On tawa or non stick flat pan toast the bread squares on low heat. They should be evenly toasted without getting burnt. Add drops of desi ghee to the sides of each piece to give the flavour without the fat. Arrange them on a serving dish. With a spoon pour the syrup on each slice while they are still warm. Put enough syrup for the pices to be soaked but not mushy. Garnish each piece with malai, scatter the sliced almonds and pistachios on the malai, topping it with 2-3 strands of saffron. Lastly put 2 drops of rose and 2 drops of kewra essence in a cup with 3-4 spoons of water. Sprinkle this water on the pieces, alternately you can add the essence to the syrup.
Now since there were other folks I didn’t want to upset, I made a few things with onion and garlic too.
Dum aloo with kasuri methi
Ingredients:
5 medium size boiled potatoes, 2 onions cut into cubes, fresh ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder, coriander powder.
Method:
Fry cubed onions in 2 tbsp oil, add ginger-garlic paste fry for a few minutes then add a spoonful each of turmeric and coriander powder and fry till brown. Add the boiled potatoes whole and fry with the masala on slow heat. The potatoes will get golden fried on the outside. Use the ladle to slice them into pieces. Fry some more till all sides are covered with masala. Just beore taking off the fire add 2 tbsp of dried Kasuri methi and stir well. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and chopped green chillies.
Lauki/Dudhi ka kofta
Ingredients:
One small lauki/dudhi (bottle gourd), 2onions, fresh garlic ground with whole Kashmiri lal mirch soaked in water, garam masala powder, coriander powder, 2tbsp besan (chickpea flour), 2 large tomatoes pureed, few raisins (kishmish), tamarind pieces.
Method:
Koftas : Grate the lauki and stand for 10 minitues. Squeeze out the water which you can throw or add to the gravy. Add salt, garam masala powder, coriander powder, besan and chilly powder(optional). Make small balls, stuff each ball with 2 raisins, a slice of tamarind and a few pieces of very finely chopped green chillies. Deep fry or fry on a non-stick pan on slow heat so that they are properly cooked.
Gravy : Brown the sliced onions. Add garlic and mirchi paste and fry till it leaves the sides of the pan. Add tomato puree. Add coriander powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder and salt. Fry till the masala leaves the sides of the pan. Add water and boil. Just before taking off the fire add the koftas. Garnish with coriander leaves when serving.
Recipes experimented and written by Sumita
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