Simple home food...

It is really sad that people don't cook at home these days. It has become a trend to go out and discover new restaurants rather than cook at home. Cooking is an art and if you keep the recipes simple, you can discover the joy of cooking great food- Try out this north Indian dish called Rajmah chawal- really tastes great for dinner with friends- Rajmah is nothing but red kidney beans cooked in a rich gravy which can be eaten with naan/roti or steaming hot rice. I love Rajmah with rice (chawal). The only effort that goes in this dish is cooking the kidney beans- You have to soak it overnight and cook it in a pressure cooker/steamer till it softens and melts in your mouth- If pressed for time, simply grab a tin of ready to use kidney beans (that has already been cooked). 

Rajmah Chawal

Ingredients to cook Rajmah (Red kidney beans)

2 cups red ked kidney beans (soak it in water overnight)

1 big tomatoe - chopped

2 onions - chopped

1 spoon ginger grated

1 red chilli

2 garlic pieces crushed and chopped

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 big spoon corriander powder

salt according to taste

Bay leaf

Cardamom seeds- crushed

Cinnamon stick (small piece)

dash of black pepper

1 teaspoon paprika powder or red chilli powder

Let's get cooking Rajmah- 

First cook the soaked kidney beans in a pressure cooker or steamer for 30 to 40 minutes till they soften - The test is once they are cooked try crushing them with your thumb- the kidney bean should crush without any effort. In a wok, heat some oil. Once the oil is hot, put in the cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, garlic, ginger and chopped red chillies. Now throw in the onions and cook them till they become golden brown. Add the chopped tomatoes and keep blending the ingredients till they become a thick paste. Now comes the spices- Add corriander powder, crushed cardamom seeds, pepper, salt, paprika powder. Stir fry for 3-4 minutes until the oil separates from the mixture and it becomes a thick gravy. Add the cooked kidney beans with 2 cups of water and allow the beans to blend well with the gravy. Close the wok with a lid and allow the beans to cook with the gravy for 10 to 12 minutes on a low flame. After 10 minutes, remove the lid and lightly smash the kidney beans while mixing. Add a spoon of butter and mix the kidney beans thoroughly so that it takes the essence of butter. Garnish with chopped corriander leaves- Cook some basmati rice and enjoy your kidney beans!

Summer Barbeque

Being a vegetarian is pretty tough (especially when you have people eating meat all around you). The entire process of barbeque is always focussed on meat- Being vegetarian doesn't have to be boring and here is the proof-  I grilled vegetables with herbs and it turned out really cool- Grab bell peppers, zucchini, tofu or paneer (cottage cheese), cherry tomatoes, mushrooms- cut them in blocks or chunks. Dab the vegetables with herbs (oregano, rosemary, basil)- olive oil and salt- put them on a skewer and grill on.... I also dabbed a bit of butter and salt on some corn cob and grilled them with the vegetables- Yum!                                     

The best part is these grilled vegetables make a great sandwich! Put them on a toasted bread and enjoy a different kind of sandwich. And it doesn't take much time to make either! 

Mushroom Pulav

You can do so much with rice-  I have lost count of the varieties that I keep making.... You can mix and match different spices, vegetables and come up with something special- I got way too many mushrooms on sale  and my fridge was literally bursting with them :(

The problem with mushrooms is they don't have shelf life and you have to use them as soon as possible- So, I cooked rice with mushrooms, bell peppers, peas, corn with spices. Try it out for a good lunch time!

Ingredients- Mushroom (diced), Bell peppers (red and yellow variety- use green if you have), peas, sweet corn, uncooked rice (washed and soaked in water for half an hour)-

Spices- corriander seeds (1/2 teaspoon), cumin seeds (1/2 teaspoon), green cardamom (3 pieces), dash of Ajwain seeds- crush them and keep it aside-

Apart from that keep crushed garlic, bay leaf, chopped ginger, cinnamon stick, dash of nutmeg ready!

Preparation- We need to cook the rice first- In a wok, add liberal dose of oil. Once the oil is hot,  add cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, one bay leaf, green chillies, crushed garlic and ginger. Allow the oil to absorb the garlic and ginger. Toss in the rice with two cups of water and allow the rice to cook (for one  cup of rice you need two cups of water). You need to cook the rice first on a high flame and as the water starts evaporating reduce the flame. Allow the rice to cook on a low flame for five minutes.

In a separate wok, pour in oil and stir fry mushrooms with bell peppers, corn and peas. Add the crushed spices, salt and stir fry the vegetables till they become tender and not mushy. Add the stir fried mushrooms to the cooked rice. Garnish it with fried cashew nuts and chopped coriander leaves to enjoy a good meal! Serve it with papads and raita for a great experience :)

Spinach cooked with cottage cheese...

I love Paneer (cottage cheese) and any recipe tastes great with it! Especially if you are not a huge fan of spinach, then try making it with paneer and boy you will love it. This recipe is very popular in northern India. Here is my take on palak paneer- Enjoyyyyyyy

Ingredients- Spinach (about 500 gms), cottage cheese (cubed- about one big cup)

For the Gravy- you need 2 onions (finely chopped), garlic (3-4 cloves-crushed and chopped), grated ginger (about a small tablespoon), medium sized tomatoe (finely chopped)- the spices that go in are- cinnamon stick, cumin seeds, bay leaves, a little bit of ajwain (carom seeds), garam masala, corriander powder, amchoor powder (dried mango powder), dried red chillies (2 pieces) and of course my favorite chopped corriander leaves!   

Preparation is simple- We need to wash the spinach leaves, and boil them a bit in water till they become soft- once they are soft blend them in a mixer to a paste and keep it aside- Now get the gravy ready- In a wok, pour oil (liberal dose), and once it becomes hot add the cumin seeds, garlic, ginger, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, a bit of ajwain or carom seeds-When the garlic is golden brown add the chopped onions, dried red chillies and roast them till they are golden brown. Toss in the chopped tomatoes and keep mixing the ingredients till the tomatoes blend with onions and becomes a paste. 

Now comes the spices- Put in the garam masala, corriander powder(about a big tablespoon each) and amchur powder (just a dash of it). Cook the ingredients till the masala blends and the mixture starts to become a thick consistency of a gravy. Add salt according to taste. 

Add in the blended spinach to the gravy and cook till spinach loses its raw taste and takes in the spices. Add the bowl of cottage cheese towards the end and cook it on a low flame for around 5 minutes. Before removing it from fire, add a big tablespoon of butter and blend in till the butter melts. Garnish it with chopped corriander! There is a slight variation in this recipe- Usually, the cottage cheese is deep fried (separately) in oil before mixing it with spinach. I simply love to keep the flavor of cottage cheese and mix it without frying it in oil. 

Serve it with hot rotis- yum!

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 :)