Paneer Palak Methi Chaman

Blogging Marathon # 35 Week 4 Day 2

Theme : Special Theme : Bookmarked Recipes - online or otherwise

Course : Main Course

During winter season we get lots of green leafy vegetable and especially in Gujarat or Northern region of India include greens in their dishes. If you visit any house you would find either Palak, Methi, Sarso, Bathua, Amaranth etc prepared everyday as one of the main course. They say in Gujarat that Green leafy vegetable are good source of iron, calcium and is warm for body and that is the reason you will see all sorts of green leafy vegetables in winter. At my place it is a must to cook green leafy vegetable atleast once a day when in season, my mom and papa loves methi and hare lashun ki bhaji and it is cooked every alternative day. Now a days we get all sorts of green leafy vegetables throughout the year, but the taste is not same. Somehow in winter i feel the taste of vegetable is something different more fresh and that particular flavour is found only during winter. 

Bhoger Khichuri - Bengali Khichadi

Blogging Marathon # 35 Week 3 Day 2

Theme : Regional Recipes with Course Specific - Bengali

Course : Main Course

My second post under the theme of Bengali cuisine is Bhoger Khichuri or Bhagara Khichi or Masala Khichdi. Bhoger khichi is an authentic dish which is offered to Goddess on Durga Puja, Sarawathi puja, Kaali puja or Lokkhi puja, it is must dish at every household or at pandal, rice being the staple food of Bengal it is a tradition to make bhog made from rice in any form.

Vegetable Pulao - Pressure cooker recipes

Blogging Marathon # 35 Week 2 Day 2

Theme : Pressure Cooker Recipes
Course : Main course

I love to cook in pressure cooker a reason it is very quick and saves fuel and time and secondly the falovurs of masala / spices are blended well and every grain or bit is full of aroma and flavours. My husband likes the open cooking method say if I ask him shall we make Pulao his first choice would be to make in pot rather than cooker as he likes the bite of rice to be al-dente but i love it to be soft, and when he is not around it is one pot meal. So today we are going to make very simple yet delicious pulao.

Amritsari Chole - Pressure Cooker

Blogging Marathon # 35 Week 2 Day 1

Theme : Pressure Cooker Recipes
Course : Main course

When we were given the themes for this month challenge i was very happy to pick pressure cooker recipes, preparing in pressure cooker not only saves energy but also saves time too. I love to make traditional punjabi dishes such as Maa ki Daal, Dal Makhani, Chole, Rajma in cooker reason one is that it cooks faster and taste better and gives the authentic taste as of slow cooking gives and secondly it is one pot recipe, once you saute the gravy and rest is taken care of, no hazel of stirring or sticking at bottom of pan.

My first post under this theme is Amritsari chole recipe, which i learnt from my husband, he too is great cook and there would be no better occasion to showcase his recipe. Lets make Amritsari Chole.

Preparation time : 10 mins + Soaking time : 6 - 8 hrs

Cooking time : 40 mins

Serves : 4

Difficulty level : Easy

Ingredients :

2 cup channa / white chick peas

1/2 cup onion finely chopped

1/2 cup tomato crushed / pulp

3 tbsp butter

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp lal mirch / red chilli powder

1 tsp haldi/ turmeric

1tsp dhania powder / coriander powder

1/2 tsp anar dhana / dry pomegranate seeds

1/2 tbsp grated ginger

1/2 tbsp garlic paste

salt to taste

2 bay leaves

1 tsp jeera

For Masala/ Spice Blend:

5 cloves / laung

1"  cinnamon bark/ taj

3 choti ealichi/ green cardamom 

3 kali elaichi / black cardamom

1/2 tbsp black pepper

For Garnish:

1 dollop butter

few slices of onions

Other things required:

Pressure cooker

Spoon

Grinder or grater

Method : 

• Soak channa in water for atleast 6 - 8 hrs or overnight.
• Heat butter and oil in pressure cooker on slow heat. When it gets hot add bay leave and jeera seeds.
• When it is brown add finely chopped onions, saute for a min, add ginger garlic and saute for a 2 -3 mins.
• Grind the spice blend to coarse powder.
• Once the onions are golden brown add all the spices and saute for couple of minutes, add in crushed tomatoes.
• Saute for 10 mins or till the oil seperates, add in soaked channa and saute for a 2 - 3 mins.
• Add around 2 -3 cups of water, let the water boil.
• Close the lid of the cooker and pressure cook for 6 - 8 whistles.
• After whistles, simmer for 5 mins.
• Open the cooker when it is cool.
• After opening the lid if the gravy has not thickened simmer it for 5 mins or till the gravy has thickened.
• Transfer to bowl ans serve hot with puri or bhature or kulcha

Note :

• Soak channa in hot water if you want to make channa in an hour or so.
• Let the masala saute well in oil, this is necessary to extract the flavours of the spices.
• Never cook or saute the gravy in high flame.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#35 

Hope you have enjoyed reading this post. Please take a minute to share views and valuable comments. Regards,
Briju Parthasarathy

Tomato Infused Risotto with Peas

Tomato Infused Risotto with Peas

One of the greatest gastronomic feast of Italian cooking, risotto is made with a special rice to create deliciously creamy dish. It is surprisingly simple to make, but does require little patience because it involves slow cooking and constant stirring. As long as you use correct rice and good homemade stock, and take your time, you'll be on your way to making a perfect risotto. Risotto flavoured with tomato essence makes a perfect 5 Star Dish for your family gatherings, Dinner Parties. 

I enjoy and love watching great chefs shows and one of these Michelin star Chef Raymond Blanc's episode on Tomato inspired me to make this lovely risotto and it was a star dish at my dinner party. You need to have lot of passion to try out new things and new innovative ideas in your kitchen.  

Amritsari Dum Aloo

Dum Aloo is named so because it is cooked under pressure 'DUM' (pressure in hindi) and Aloo means potatoes. IT is one of the famous and the most popular north indian dish. It belongs specially, to Kashmiri Cuisine but is also popular dish of Punjabi, Bengali cuisine. The potatoes used in Dum Aloo are baby potatoes and are first deep fried and cooked slowly in spices for long time.

Today I am going to show you how to make Amritsari Dum Aloo has a tang from tomatoes and yogurt and sweetness from onions in combination with Punjabi khada masala.

There are many variations of Dum Aloo i.e. ways to prepare aloo from deep frying, semi cooked in water and then fried or even can oven roast it, all depends on what you prefer If you ask me i personally prefer to deep fry first and then add in gravy but it is upto you to decide what way you would like to make. All variations taste almost same the key is in the making of gravy.

Tomato Pappu–Andhra Style

Dal called as “Pappu” in telugu is a vital part of every day meal of Andhra households. The preparation of pappu varies from region to region. There are two ways to make pappu: in olden days they used to temper the dal and then cook in slow cooker till done, it used to take long time and taste yum and other way is to pressure cook dal and tomato and then temper the dal. The consistency of dal can vary from slightly pourable or thick.
I prefer my dal the way it is made in Telenga thick dal and if you mix with rice and ghee it should form as a ball (in Telugu it is called 'muddalu') out of it. While posting this dal I went back to my memory lane of eating it at our Reddy Uncle’s place. Sending this link to Madhu's Indian Recipe and Priya of Priya's Versatile Recipe for their event Cooking with Seed (CWS) - Cook woth Toor Dal