CRISPY STIRFRIED ARBI (COLOCASIA)

Stirfried crispy seasoned "Arbi" is a mildly spiced and a wonderful side dish or you may serve it as a snack too. I am so fond of arbi/colocasia root, that I make it oftenly atleast once in a week. The main aroma comes from the carom seeds/ajwain, which makes the dish more inviting. This is also a 'Vrat' or a 'fasting meal's recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
500 gms Arbi / Colocasia (taro root)
1 tsp Carom Seeds (ajwain)
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1/2 tsp Asafoetida (hing)
2 tsps Coriander Seeds (roasted and then pounded coarsely)
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
3/4 tsp Dried Mango Powder (amchur)
1/2 tsp Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder
3-4 Chopped Green Chillies
1/2 tsp Garam Masala
1&1/2 tsps Grated Ginger
7-8 Curry Leaves (chopped)
2 tbsps Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves / Cilantro
1 tsp Sugar
Salt to taste
3 tbsps Oil + Oil for frying arbis

METHOD:

Wash arbis nicely. Put arbis in a pressure cooker. Let full pressure comes, then cook 2 minutes more on low heat. Cool down the pressure cooker normally and remove the peels of arbis. Place a arbi within your two palms, press a little to make arbi little flat and keep it aside. Follow the same with the rest of the arbis.  

Heat enough oil for frying arbis in a pan. Add few arbis in it. Fry till arbis turn golden and crispy. Follow the same process and fry rest of the arbis. Keep those aside.

Heat 3 tbsps oil in a wok or pan. Add cumin seeds, carom seeds and asafoetida in it. Saute for few seconds. Add grated ginger, curry leaves and green chillies. Saute for a minute.

Now add turmeric powder and coarsely pounded coriander seeds in it. Add fried arbis now. Add dried mango powder, kashmiri red chilli powder, garam masala, salt and sugar in it. Sprinkle little water in it. Ensure that spice powders do not burn. Stir gently for 3-4 minutes on low heat, so that all arbis are coated well with the spices.                      

                                                                                                                                                             Add chopped coriander leaves in it. Fold nicely and turn off the heat now.                                                                                                                                      

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve with rotis, parathas or rice as you wish. You can serve it as an appetizer/snack with any kind of chutney. 

CHICKEN BHARTA

I had this delicious dish on road side 'Dhaba' for several times, and tried to make it like restaurant style. A very popular side dish, chicken bharta served with rotis, naan or any kind of rice dish. It requires onion-tomato gravy with all Indian spices, cashewnut paste makes the gravy more flavourful and at the end using of kewra essence, butter, cream and whisked egg gives a royal texture of mughlai cuisine. It's yummilicious and worth the effort it requires.

INGREDIENTS:
250 gms Ground Chicken (keema)
200 gms Onions (finely chopped)
2 Tomatoes (paste)
2 tbsps Ginger Garlic Paste
1/4 Cup Whisked Curd / Plain Yogurt
1 Bay Leaf
1/2" Cinnamon
3-4 Cloves
1-2 Green Cardamoms
1&1/2 tsps Turmeric Powder
1 tbsp Cumin Powder
1/2 tbsps Red Chilli Powder (as per taste)
1 tbsp Coriander Powder
1 tbsp Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder
1/3 Cup Fresh Cream
1 tbsp Butter
50 gms Cashewnut (soak in warm water and paste)
1/2 tsp Garam Masala Powder
1 Egg (whisked)
1 tsp Sugar
Salt to taste
2 Drops of Kewra Essence
2 tbsps Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves / Cilantro
2 tbsps Oil

METHOD:

Heat oil in a pan or kadhai. Add bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon and green cardamom in it. Saute for 20-30 seconds. 

Add chopped onions in it. Fry till onion turns into golden brown.

Add ginger garlic paste and tomato paste in it. Cook for 3-4 minutes on medium heat, till tomatoes leave oil from the sides.

Add all dry spices one by one (except garam masala powder). Saute for a minute, pour whished curd and salt in it. Fry for another 2-3 minutes, till spices are well cooked.

Add ground chicken in it. Keep stirring for 3-4 minutes, so that chicken mixes with the spices well.

At this time add cashew paste, sugar and 3/4 cup warm water in it. Fold well. Cover and cook for 10 minutes on low heat. Open the lid now. Pour cream, kewra essence, butter, whished egg in it. Saute for a minute. Add garam masala powder and coriander leaves on it. 

Serve immediately with phulkas, parathas, naan or and rice dishes. Hope you and your family will surely relish this luscious non-veg treat!

NOTE: The amount of spices is upto you, whether you want a lot spicy or just a little. After finishing this dish, you can put a burnt charcoal on it and cover the bharta for 4-5 minutes for getting smokey flavour. Though I didn't do it, this dish itself very luscious like restaurant style.

Sending to: "Flavours of Cuisine - Mughlai" to Shruti & Julie

CHICHINGE CHECHKI (STIR FRIED SNAKE GOURD)

'Chichinge Chechki' is a very delicious and authentic dry curry from Bengali cuisine. In Bengali snake gourd called by 'chechinge'. Snake gourd is a green vegetable, with is rarely used and I have very limited knowled of preparations of snake gourd. I saw this curry in one of my blogger friend's space, modified it a little according to my tastebuds. It is very tasty and healthy, through I used very less oil in it. Mustard, coconut, poppy seeds paste made this curry very flavourful and yummilicious!

INGREDIENTS:
4-5 Snake Gourds (chichinge)
1/2 Cup Grated Coconut (nariyel)
2 tsps Mustard Paste (sarshe bata)
2 tsps Poppy Seeds Paste (posto bata)
1 tsp Green Chilli Paste (hare mirch)
1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds (rai/sarshon)
A Pinch of Asafoetida (hing)
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder (haldi)
1 tsp Sugar (sakkar/chini)
1-2 tbsps Oil (preferably mustard oil)
1/2 tbsp Clarified Butter (ghee)
Salt to taste (namak)

METHOD:

Lightly scrape the skin of snake gourds. With a sharp knife slit it, remove seeds. Wash and pat dry. Chop snake grourds finely. Set aside.

Heat oil in a wok. Add mustard seeds and asafoetida in it. When mustard seed splutters, add chopped snake gourd. Season with turmeric powder and salt.

Fold it for 2 minutes. You can see, snake gourd will release water this moment. So cover and cook it on medium low flame till snack gourd is almost tendered. Keep stirring inbetween.

Now add grated coconut, mustard paste, poppy seeds paste and green chilli paste in it. Mix well. Cover and cook for another 3-4 minutes on low heat.

Add sugar. Mix nicely for a minute. Remove from heat now.

Serve warm with steamed rice and dal and enjoy your lunch.
Recipe Courtesy: Recipe Junction

LITCHI COOKIE DESSERT

Today, I come here with a very simple dessert which I made with only 3 ingredients. Litchi is a sole member of soapberry family, is a very favourite to me in any form. It is a fragranced fruit with a very sweet in taste. I mix-matched litchi juice with butter cookie crumbs; within 3 minutes it came out to a yummilicious dessert. I had nothing in my pantry except few fresh cherries for garnishing of this dish. It gave a very nice look and the end product is really very luscious. I think tutti frutti will also go good with this dessert. So friends, here is the super delicious very easy to make dessert, tryout and enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:
2 Cups Butter Cookie Crumb
150 ml Litchi Juice
Few Chopped Fresh Cherries for Garnishing
Serves: 4

METHOD:

Heat the litchi juice till just lukewarm in a thick-bottom pan.
Slowly, mix in the cookie crumbs and vanilla essence, stirring continuously so that it does not stick to the bottom of the pan. The mixture should take only 3 minutes time to thicken.

Put off the heat now. Pour the mixture into differently shaped moulds. Bring to the room temperature.

Keep in the refrigerator for an hour. Unmould from the container or bowls. Spread chopped cherries on the top. Serve as a dessert.

Sending to: Guru's Giveaway Summer ’13 Drinks & Desserts

EGGPLANT POTATO DRY CURRY (MASALA ALOO BAINGAN)

'Eggplant', this versatile veggie is enjoyed in all types of cuisines. I tried out this dry curry with all Indian spices, like North Indian style and it came out fabulous! Simply superb if it is served with chapathi or parathas. Here is the easy but toothsome recipe........

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 kg Medium Sized Eggplants (medium cubed)
250 gm Potato (peeled and diced)
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
3-4 Pods of Garlic (minced)
1 tsp Minced Ginger
1/2 Cup Tomato Chopped
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1 tbsp Dried Mango Powder
1/2 tsp Freshly Pounded Garam Masala
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/2 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
1/2 tsp Fennel Seeds
1/3 tsp Asafoetida
6-8 Curry Leaves (chopped)
2 tbsps Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves / Cilantro
5 tbsps Mustard oil
Salt to taste

METHOD:
Heat oil in a deep bottomed frying pan or wok. Add asafoetida, mustard seeds, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves. Saute till mustard seeds crackling and fennel become golden.
Add potato cubes and turmeric powder. Cover and cook for 5 minutes on medium heat. Stir inbetween twice.
Now add eggplant cubes, minced ginger and salt in it. Fold nicely. Cover and cook for 5-6 minutes on low heat till the eggplant and potatoes are well cooked.
Add chopped tomatoes and all dry spice powder. Sprinkle little water on the top. Cover and cook for another 2-3 minutes on low heat.
Switch off the heat now, sprinkle chopped coriander leaves on the top.
Serve with rotis/parathas or dal rice.

CHETTINAD PAKODA KUZHAMBU - SNC CHALLENGE # 9

South vs North Challenge is a concept and brain-child of our lovely friend Divya Pramil of You too can cook. Most of our blogger friends are definitely known about this event. If you are really interested to join SNC, just mail to: divya.pramil@gmail.com. There are two groups in SNC, which are regionally divided into South and North. Every month a member of each group challenged each other with their authentic regional dishes. 

This month Priya Suresh, (who does not require any introduction in this food blogging world) from Priya's Versatile Recipes challenged North team a very authentic Tamil Nadu dish, Chettinad Pakoda Kuzhambu, a savoury curry made in Chettinad style. Where as Chandrani Banerjee Challenged South team a traditional mouthwatering Bengali dessert, Chanar / Paneer Jalebi.

'Chettinad cuisine' is the cuisine of the Chettinad region, which is located Southern part of Tamil Nadu state in South India. Chettinad cuisine is very famous for its unique flavour and use of variety of spices in cooking, specially hot, pungent with pound fresh masalas and coconut. Most of the dishes eaten with rice and rice based accompaniments such as idlis, dosais, appam, idiyappams and adais. This was my first attempt to make a chettinad veg curry and it came out a truly delish and tasty curry. We can have pakoda itself as a perfect crispy and yummy tea-time snack. Thanks a lot Priya akka for this wonderful and lipsmacking good kuzhambu recipe. Me and my whole family relished this Chettinad delicacy. Truely, we are in love with this amazing veg dish!

INGREDIENTS FOR MAKING PAKODAS:
1/2 Cup Chana Dal / Bengal Gram (kadala paruppu)
2-3 nos. Dried Red Chillies
1 tsp Fennel Seeds
A Sprig of Curry Leaves
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

HOW TO MAKE PAKODAS:
Wash and soak Bengal gram for 2 hours. Put soaked dal, dried red chillies, fennel seeds, curry leaves and salt together. Grind with very little waterand make a coarse paste. Set it aside.

Heat oil in a wok for frying. Once hot, take a golf sized ball of pounded mixture and pinch gently a small quantity of this mixture as shapeless pakodas and drop into the hot oil and fry. Fry pakodas until they turns golden brown. Drain the excess oil with a paper towel and set aside.

INGREDIENTS FOR MAKING GRAVY:
2 Onions (finely chopped)
2 Tomatoes (finely chopped)
2 Green Chillies, cut into slits
6 Pods of Garlic (minced)
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1 tbsp Coriander Powder
1/3 tsp Turmeric Powder
Few Sprigs of Coriander Leaves (chopped finely)
3-4 tbsps Oil
Salt to taste

FOR SEASONING:
2 nos. Cloves
2 nos. Green Cardamoms
1" Cinnamon
1 tsp Fennel Seeds
2 Bay Leaves
A Sprig of Curry Leaves

TO GRIND:
1 tsp Poppy Seeds
4 tbsps Grated Coconut
6 nos Cashewnuts
1 tbsp Toasted Chanadal / Dalia (Pottu Kadalai)

HOW TO MAKE GRAVY:
Grind all the ingredients which are given under the list 'to grind' as fine paste by adding 2 tbsps of water. Keep it aside.

Heat oil in wok/kadai, add the whole spices given under 'for seasoning' and fry until they turns brown.

Add chopped onions, green chillies, tomatoes, garlic and salt. Saute till the veggies gets well cooked.

Now the pounded paste to the cooking veggies, fold well and cook in simmer for 2 minutes.

Add 5 cups of water, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder in it. Give a nice stir and cook in medium flame. Close the lid, cook for 5 more minutes. Keep the gravy watery. (Add the water if needed, once you add pakodas, they tend to absorb the gravy and finally no gravy will be left when the pakodas get well cooked in gravy. So keep the gravy enough watery.) Once the oil gets seperates slightly from the gravy, add the pakodas immediately to it. Don't stir the gravy after adding the pakodas, bring boil the gravy once and switch off the stove now. Finally add chopped coriander leaves to the gravy. Give a nice stir now. Switch off the heat.

Serve hot with steamed rice and enjoy this chettinad delicacy!

Sending to Priya akka.

MASALA MANTRA

I prefer 'punch' mostly and this yummy fruit drink 'Masala Mantra' is the perfect way to cool off and impress your guests at your gatherings this Summer. I added mint flavor and garnished with lemon slices for a pretty finish. Pounded black pepper and tabasco sauce make it more flavourful and tasty. This refreshing cooler makes any barbecue or Summer party a little more special, though it is totally alcohol-free, just made with mix match of different fruit juices. Here is a delicious mocktail, just try out this season, will surely relish it.

INGREDIENTS:
200 ml Mango Juice
100 ml Guava Juice
100 ml Pineapple Juice
1 tsp Black Pepper Powder (freshly pounded)
2 tsps Tabasco Sauce
1 tsp Finely Chopped Mint Leaves
8 Crushed Ice Cubes
Few Ice Cubes & Lemon Rings For Garnishing

METHOD:
Shake all (except those garnishing ingredients) ingredients very well for 3-4 minutes.
Pour juice equally in two collins glasses.
Garnish with Lemon rings and ice cubes. Serve immediately. Enjoy this refreshing mocktail!!!

SERVES: 2
Sending to: Guru's Giveaway Summer ’13 Drinks & Desserts