Kidney Beans in a Rich Garlic Sauce (Rajma)

I have prepared the red kidney beans so many times but this one had to be different. With a good amount of garlic pumped in, the gravy was sumptuous and went well with the Sunday lunch. Inspiration? from a local restaurant nearby. The usual red kidney beans was served with a garlic kick and if that wasn’t enough, they had added whole garlic cloves which just melted with the kidney beans and tasted heavenly! Since then my mind was buzzing to recreate the dish at home. What a way to enjoy the Sunday lunch with kidney beans cooked in a rich garlic gravy…Also called Rajma, this is a popular north Indian dish that can be prepared within a short span of time and goes well with rice/rotis. The recipe can be tweaked in a number of ways to suit your palette.

Kidney beans in a rich garlic sauce

Red kidney beans cooked in a rich spicy Indian gravy with an inherent touch of garlic.

Ingredients

• Red Kidney beans- 1 cup (soaked overnight in water)
• Onions (finely chopped)- 2
• Tomatoes (pureed)- 3 (medium tomatoes)
• Garlic cloves- 8-9 (crush and chop -4, retain the rest)
• Grated ginger (1/2 tsp)
• Red chilli powder- 1 1/2 tsp
• Coriander powder- 3/4 tbsp
• Garam Masala powder- 1 tsp
• Ghee (clairified butter)- for cooking (roughly 2 tbsp)
• Salt according to taste.
• Chopped coriander leaves (for garnishing)
• Cumin seeds – 3/4 tsp
• Kasoori Methi -dry leaves crushed (Fenugreek leaves-dried) (3/4 tsp)

Instructions

1. Pressure cook kidney beans (with 4 cups of water) till they are soft and melt in your mouth (retain the water you use for cooking the beans).
2. In a pan, add ghee and as it melts pop in the cumin seeds.
3. As the seeds begin to sputter, add bay leaves and onions.
4. Fry the onions till they become golden brown.
5. Add crushed garlic and ginger and saute them for a couple of minutes.
6. Add pureed tomatoes and continue to cook on a medium flame.
7. Add coriander powder, garam masala and red chilli powder and cook till the oil leaves the masala.
8. Add the remaining garlic cloves- do not chop or crush them.
9. Add the cooked kidney beans to this mixture and add the water you retained.
10. Adjust salt according to taste and allow the beans to cook and blend in with the masala.
11. Allow the mixture to cook on a low flame for 10-15 minutes.
12. Add dry kasoori methi (fenugreek leaves) leaves and give it a quick toss.
13. Add chopped coriander leaves for garnishing and serve hot with rice!

Published  @ Honest Cooking -http://honestcooking.com/2011/12/27/kidney-beans-in-a-rich-garlic-sauce/

Chocolate chip cookies

It’s fika time, folks! Introduced by my former Swedish colleagues, I caught on to this lovely tradition pretty fast. Fika is both a Swedish verb and noun (pronounced “fee-ka”) that roughly means “to drink coffee/tea” usually accompanied by something sweet (source- wikipedia). It’s customary to invite friends and colleagues for coffee along with deliciously baked goods. Now, I can’t drink a cup of coffee without anything sweet. so, I baked these lovely cookies to accompany my coffee and satisfy my sweet craving. This chocolate chip cookie recipe is pretty simple and can be baked in batches and stored for about week. I found this recipe from a book titled “baking with passion” by Dan Lepard and Richard Whittington. Here I am, enjoying some freshly baked cookies with a hot cup of coffee – Loving it!
A simple chocolate chip cookie recipe to enjoy together with your cup of coffee. Welcome to Fika time.

A simple chocolate chip cookie recipe to enjoy your cup of coffee!

Ingredients

• 200 grams all purpose flour
• 85 grams caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 80 grams unsalted soft butter
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 100 grams dark chocolate- cut in small chunks or chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius.
2. In a bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
3. In another mixing bowl cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in the egg to this mixture.
5. Fold in the flour followed by chocolate pieces using a spatula- the dough will be stiff.
6. With the help of your hands roll walnut-sized pieces of dough and place them on buttered baking trays.
7. Leave space in between the cookies to allow room for spreading.
8. Bake for 20 minutes or until the edges are firm but the center is soft.
9. Remove and allow it to cool.
10. Enjoy with a steaming hot cup of coffee!

Notes

Yields about 15 cookies!

Published  @ Honest Cooking - http://honestcooking.com/2011/11/11/fika-time-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Garlic & cumin flavored lentils...

Cooking lentils is fun. I love trying out different ingredients with lentils and my all time favorite is lentils with garlic- Garlic flavor works like magic with lentils. No matter how much you love eating from outside and trying different restaurants, there are times when you want to eat a simple dinner at home, nothing fancy….Garlic dal/Garlic lentils is my comfort food and I can cook them without much sweat.  The recipe is simple & would leave you wanting for more. Nothing else to dilute the garlic flavor- no fancy ingredients- just plain old garlic sauteed in butter (clarified butter) with a hint of cumin.

You can always improvise the recipe and add onions or tomatoes and cook the lentils with garam masala. But if you are fond of garlic and want the flavor of garlic to shine through, then this recipe is a winner!

Garlic & Cumin infused lentils

Ingredients

• 1 cup toor dal (yellow Pigeon peas)
• 1 cup mung dal (mung bean/ golden gram)
• 8-10 garlic cloves (chopped)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• Clarified butter/butter for cooking
• 2 green chillies (chopped fine)

Instructions

1. Pressure cook the lentils till they are soft.
2. In a pan add butter and once melted add cumin seeds.
3. As the cumin seeds begin to sputter saute garlic & green chillies.
4. Add the cooked dal/lentils mixture to the pan and cook on a low flame for few minutes. (add a bit of water to make it soupy).
5. Adjust salt according to taste and serve hot with chopped coriander for garnish.

Published @ Honest Cooking - http://honestcooking.com/2011/11/03/garlic-and-cumin-flavored-lentils/

Baby potato curry

Hands down, potatoes are versatile and can be cooked with different spices to match your palette. I normally, do a stir fry with paprika powder and a touch of cumin seeds and it really tastes gorgeous with roti/rice. This time around, I decided to do a stir fry with southern Indian spices and notched up the heat a bit. Result? The baby potatoes just explode into your mouth with the gorgeous spices giving an inherent taste. Highlight of this dish? Black peppercorns! Yes, the subtle heat it generates is just wonderful and works great with the potatoes. Cooking the dish is very easy but the initial preparation is labour intensive- especially, when you have to peel the skin from 500 grams of small potatoes and shallots. Trust me, it’s worth the effort! Go on indulge in this flavorful journey where potatoes are cooked with roasted spice mix and you can vary the spice level according to your choice.

Baby potato fry

Small potatoes cooked with southern Indian spices!

Ingredients

• Baby potatoes- 500 grams (boiled and peeled)
• Whole dry red chilli-4
• Urad dal (split black gram-skinless/lentils) – 1 tbsp
• Black peppercorn- 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves- about 4-5 leaves (roughly chopped)
• Salt according to taste
• Coriander seeds – 1 tsp
• Asafetida powder- dash of it
• Small onions/shallots- 10-15
• Cooking oil (generous dose)

Instructions

1. Dry roast the red chilies, lentils, black peppercorn & coriander seeds.
2. Allow them to cool & grind them to a fine powder.
3. In a frying pan add oil and once hot add dash of asafetida powder.
4. Add mustard seeds and allow them to crackle.
5. Add curry leaves and shallots, saute them till golden brown.
6. Stir in the potatoes and adjust salt according to taste.
7. Add the spice powder and cook the potatoes on a low flame for 5 minutes.
8. Potatoes get a lovely brown color with the spices- Remove from flame and serve!

Notes

Curry leaves are used extensively in southern Indian cooking and added for seasoning.

Published @ Honest Cooking -http://honestcooking.com/2011/10/26/baby-potato-curry/