Showing posts with label Indian spices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indian spices. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Black eyed peas

Black eyed peas are an excellent source of calcium, and rate high in terms of nutritious value. They also blend well with Indian spices.


Once, my friend admitted that her cooking choices depended on how easy it is to cook and clean up the kitchen after cooking. That set my mind thinking. I realised that sub-consciously, even I tend to pick up things that are easier to make than its nutritious value. ah… I know, that doesn’t get me any brownie points. Of late, I have tried to make a sincere attempt at picking groceries with nutrition in mind. My latest venture in this attempt is black-eyed beans. An excellent source of calcium, these peas rate high in terms of nutritious value. I also realised that it is comparatively easier to cook and they blend well with Indian spices. Ain’t that a bonus?



Indian Style Black Eyed Peas Recipe

Recipe type: Side dish
Author: Suchitra Vaidyaram
The not so popular black-eyed beans get jazzed up with Indian spices!
Ingredients
  • 1 ½ cups black eye beans (soaked overnight)
  • 1/2-tablespoon coriander powder
  • 1/2-tablespoon cumin powder
  • 1/2-tablespoon turmeric powder
  • 3/4-tablespoon garam masala
  • One chopped onion (big onion)
  • 3 big cloves garlic (crushed and chopped)
  • 1 teaspoon grated ginger
  • 2 medium sized tomates (chopped)
  • 1/2-teaspoon cumin seeds
  • Dry red chili (2 pieces) -
  • Chopped coriander for garnishing
  • 1 spoon butter
Instructions
  1. Pressure-cook the black-eyed beans till they are soft and tender.
  2. In a wok add some oil and once it gets hot put in the cumin seeds and dry red chilies (break them into pieces).
  3. As the cumin seeds start sputtering, add the onions and fry them till they are translucent. Add the garlic and ginger. Keep stirring for two minutes.
  4. Add chopped tomatoes and mash them a bit so that it becomes a good thick paste.
  5. Now comes the spices- put the turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and garam masala.
  6. Cook for around 5 minutes till the oil separates from the mixture.
  7. Add the boiled black eye beans with 1 cup of water and continue to cook till the beans blend well with the spices (which should take just around 5 minutes).
  8. Add salt, butter and cook for one minute.
  9. Before serving add chopped corriander and enjoy it hot with your rotis!

Friday, July 2, 2010

Spice up your world....

I wanted to highlight some of the spices used in Indian cooking- 

Garam masala- (hot masala powder)- well, the recipe differs from region to region and I am pretty much sure that you will get a decent brand from your local market- Garam Masala is a culmination of various spices like- cumin seeds, shahi jeera or black cumin, cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom (Green, black and brown varities), nutmeg, coriander seeds, fennel seeds (may contain traces of garlic powder, ginger powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder- depending upon the brand). Using Garam masala will add good authentic Indian flavor to your food.








Another powder which I most commonly use is the hot curry masala powder. This is similar to garam masala but has a different and strong flavor than Garam masala- This masala not only contains similar spices to that of Garam masala but also asafoetida, mustard seeds, caraway, coriander seeds and brings in a little bit of color to your food (because of turmeric).


Corriander powder- I love using this one and tend to add it to almost all my cusine because of the exotic flavor it brings to the food.


Turmeric powder- Bring that lovely color to your food with turmeric powder- it is really good for health! 
To get a tangy taste to your recipe you can even use amchur powder (made from dried, ground mangoes)- A dash of this powder in vegetables wouldn't hurt and gives a nice tangy flavor-

Bay leaves gives you an exotic aroma to any gravy or rice and I do use it a lot along with green cardamom-


I love adding a bit of Ajwain seeds (Carom seeds) for medical reasons- It helps reliving gas from your stomach- 



There are many more masalas that can be used to bring a good flavor- I have often seen that sticking to the basic ones really helps and you can keep trying out different ones till you feel a particular combination gets your taste buds tingling! There is no hard and fast rule for the masalas- My mom always used to tell me- Keep it simple for the real flavor to come through :)










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