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

AMRAKHAND (MANGO IN SHRIKHAND) & A GIFT FOR WINNER FROM MEENA BHATIA

Hellow friends,

Meena Bhatia of Homely Food celebrated her 2nd Blog Anniversary Event and Giveaway, a very successful event which ran in between 4th April, 2013 to 19th May, 2013. I couldn't believe my eyes and totally spellbound, when Meena decleared me as the Winner of this event (please CHECK HERE). I was really so glad and boundless happiness with me on that very moment. 

My heartfelt thanks to you, Meena dear. Hats off to your efforts and indeed a great job done by you. We all enjoyed and relished your each and every dishes. Now those are listed as frequent menus in my kitchen. Thanks a lot for those delicious recipes dear.

I am truelly honoured by you dearie. Loved your gift 'Tupperware Lunch Boxes Set' so much, it is very useful and looks so pretty. Thank you so much Meena for your support throughout the  process and being with me.

So friends, here celebrating this award (gift) with a traditional mouthwatering yummy dessert, 'Amrakhand'................ A shrinkhand is an Indian dessert made by mixing thick and creamy stained yogurt with sugar, cardamom powder and saffron. You can mixed seasonal tropical fruit Mango to make to Amrakhand (mango in shrikhand). Shrikhand is originated from Maharashtra, but very popular dessert in Rajasthan and Gujarat too. It involves no cooking. It is a transformation of simple yogurt to a luscious dessert. We enjoyed 'Aam Shrikhand' so much that I have made it several times in this season. Cardamom and saffron flavours really worked well. So here is the simple recipe, hope you all will enjoy well.

INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup Plain Yogurt / Thick Curd
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 Cup Mango Pulp (Preferably Alphonso Mango)
1/4 tsp Green Cardamom Powder
1 tbsp Cashewnuts (chopped)
1 tbsp Almonds (chopped)
1 tbsp Pistachios (sliced)
Few Strands of Saffron

METHOD:
Place a muslin cloth on a sieve. Pour yogurt in it and stain out water from it or you may hang it over the kitchen sink. So that all excess water should drain out.
Whisk powdered sugar with hanged yogurt, till both are well blended.
In a blender, put mango pulp, cardamom powder and saffron. Blend for 2-3 minutes to make a smooth puree.
Mix mango puree with yogurt now. Add chopped nuts in it. Fold nicely.
Keep it in refrigerator for 2-3 hours before serving. Serve chilled by garnishing chopped nuts on the top. You can preserve it in a air-tight container and keep in refrigerator for 2 weeks.

Sending to: Authentic Indian Sweets @ Nivedhanam

KHATTI MITHI MOONG (SWEET & SOUR MUNGO BEANS)

Moong beans provides very high quality protein, that is rare in most Indian regional cuisine. Whole moong bean is cooked in several ways, but mostly used for making sprouts. Here is a very flavorful and healthy moong bean dry curry, which goes well with rice or roti. No onion and garlic are used super simple to cook, yet tastes great!
Recipe Source & Acknowledgement: Maayeka

INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup Whole Green Moong Beans
1&1/2 tsps Chopped Ginger
2 tsps Chopped Green Chillies
4 tbsps Sugar
1&1/2 tbsps Dried Mango Powder
1/2 tsp Asafoetida
1&1/2 tsps Red Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
2 tbsps Chopped Coriander Leaves
2 tbsps Clarified Butter (ghee)
Salt to taste

METHOD:
Wash and soak moong beans for minumum 1 hour. Pressure cook with 3 cups of water for 4-5 whistles on medium heat or till it cooked well and become soft.
Let is cool down naturally. Open the lid and mash cooked moong beans slightly. Now add 3 cups of warm water in it. Mix all spices, green chillies, sugar, ginger and salt with green moong.
Cook on medium heat for 10 minutes, simmer for 15 minutes, keep stirring in between.
Now remove from fire and add chopped coriander and ghee, fold nicely.
Serve with steamed rice or roti.

Sending to: Tried And Tasted - Maayeka & Original Announcement Page & Kitchen Chronicles Announcement Page

Sending to: cookcookandcook & thoushaltcook & The Big Sweet Tooth

Sending to: Priya's Event - Healthy me healthy us

CORN CAPSICUM MASALA

Corn kernals are not only tasty but healthy too. I like to relish it as the form of curry with roti or flavoured rice. It is very easy to make and a delicious curry which I found at Maayeka. It is very flavourful and yummilicious, just try it.

INGREDIENTS:
3 Cups Green Bell Peppers Cubes
1 Cup Corn Kernals
1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
3 Tomatoes Chopped
2 tbsps Tomato Puree (or tomato ketchup)
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
1&1/2 tsps Grated Ginger
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 tsp Pav Bhaji Masala
1 tsp Corander Powder
1 tsp Fresh Lemon Juice
1.5 tbsps Fresh Cream
2 tbsps Chopped Coriander Leaves
Salt to taste

METHOD:
Pressure cook corn kernals with a cup of water and a pinch of salt for 2 whistles. Strain and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds, when starts crackling, add asafoetida, ginger, salt and tomatoes in it.

Mix well. Cover and cook for few minutes till tomatoes become soft. Now add tomato puree, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, pav bhaji masala and coriander powder. Saute for a minute.

Add boiled corn and capsicum now, fold nicely. Cover and cook till capsicum became slightly cooked and gravy thickens.

Add fresh cream, lemon juice and coriander leaves. Fold well. Turn off the heat now.

Serve with rice, paratha or roti.

Sending to: Tried And Tasted - Maayeka & Original Announcement Page & Kitchen Chronicles Announcement Page

GALDA CHINGRI BHAPE (STEAMED SCAMPI / TIGER PRAWNS) - A MICROWAVE VERSION

"Galda Chingri Bhape" is an authentic Bengali Recipe, which is prepared in every household since ages. It goes best with warm steamed rice, but some people serve it with pulao too. Pungent taste of mustard paste with mustard oil makes it more appealing. Soft meat of this scampi has a very distinct flavour if cooked perfectly, little sweet in taste, it is just mouth-melting!

INGREDIENTS:
1&1/2 kgs Indian Scampi / Tiger Prawns (galda chingri)
3/4 Cup Plain Yogurt (thick curd)
1&1/2 tsps Turmeric Powder
2 tsp Green Chillies Paste
6-8 Green Chillies (or as per taste), cut in slits
1/2 Cup Grated Coconut
3 tbsps Poppy Seeds Paste
6 tbsps Mustard Paste
6-8 tbsps Mustard Oil
Salt to taste

METHOD:

Clean and wash the tiger prawns. In a microwave safe bowl, marinate prawns with turmeric powder and salt. Keep aside for 15-30 minutes.

Add mustard paste, green chilli paste, poppy seeds paste, coconut and salt to the prawn mix. Now add yogurt and mustards oil in it. Mix it well. Arrange green chillies on the top.

Place the bowl in microwave. Micro at 100% MW power for 5 minutes.

Take out the bowl from the oven now, turn the prawns in the bowl to expose other sides. Adjust salt. Microwave for another 5 minutes at 100% MW power. Switch off the oven, keep it on stand time for 5 minutes more.

Serve hot with plain rice or pulao, its yummilicious!!!