Brinjal Potato Subzi

This is another simple dish that goes well with idllis and dosas. The dish may not be photogenic but I can assure you for the taste. My MIL usually fire roasts the eggplant until it is 3/4th done and then chop it into pieces and then use it in the gravy. The gravy prepared this way has a smoky flavor in it. But my mom on the otherhand does not roast them. She steams both the brinjal and potato together and mashes it.
So, my version is to cube both the brinjal and potato into small pieces, Cook it really well and finally mash it with a potato masher. Easy... huh? It does not taste exactly the same as the fire roasted version or the steamed version. All I can say is it tastes good. Hope you give it a try too. Here's what you need...

Ingredients:
Eggplant- 1 (I'm talking about the big purple ones not the tiny ones)
potato- 2 (medium size, cubed)
mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp
urad dal- 1/2 tsp
channa dal- 1/2 tsp
cumin- 1/2 tsp
onion- 1 (finely chopped)
tomato- 1 (finely chopped)
green chillies- 3 (chopped)
tamarind- 1/2 tsp
chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
turmeric- 1/2 tsp
water- 1 1/2 cups
curry leaves- few
corriander leaves- few , hing - a pinch

Procedure:
Heat oil in a kadai and splutter mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal and cumin. Then add onions, green chillies and turmeric powder. After 5 minutes add the potato and brinjal cubes. Saute in medium flame until 3/4th done. Now add the hing, chilli powder, salt and tamarind. Mix well. Then add 1 cup water and boil until the vegetables are completely cooked. Then open the lid of the pan and mash the vegetables just leaving a few chunks here and there. You can skip this step if you want. Add more water if the gravy is too thick. Finally add corriander and curry leaves. Serve it hot with dosas or idllies.

Simple Channa masala

Just like sambhar, Channa masala is also a dish that tastes different from one kitchen to the other. While there are so many ways to make it, here is the simple version. I call as the simple one as it involves only sauteing onions, tomatoes and masala powders. No grinding involved. So let's move to the recipe.

Ingredients:
Boiled channa- 2 1/2 cups
cinnamon stick- 1"
cloves- 2
red onion- 1 (medium size, finely chopped)
ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp
green chillies- 1 (slit)
tomatoes- 1 (big, finely chopped)
tamarind paste- 1/2 tsp (optional)
chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
corrianderpowder- 1 tsp
cumin powder- 1/2 tsp
Any channa masala powder- 1/2 tsp (optional, I did not use in mine)
Jaggary- 1/4 tsp (can add more. But my hubby dosen't like it , so I added less)

corriander leaves- 1/2 cup
water- 2 cups
salt- as required

Procedure:
Soak channa in water overnight. Next day pressure cook for 2 whistles (depends upon your cooker) with some salt and turmeric. One of my Rajasthani friend adds a tea bag while pressure cooking channas. It does impart some color and flavor to the dish. Don't over do the tea bags. When I first tried it , I think I added 5 bags and you can imagine the color that my channa finally had. But I did not use tea bags here.
Heat oil in Kadai and fry cinnamon stick and cloves. Then fry onions with some turmeric until golden brown. Then add ginger garlic paste. After a few minutes add tomatoes and cook until it is all pulpy.

Now it's time to add all the masala powders and saute for atleast 5 minutes in a medium flame taking care that the masala powder dosen't get burned. Then add tamarind paste and saute for a minute. Next add water and bring to a nice boil and the gravy becomes a little thick. Test for seasonings. Add more if needed. Then add boiled channa, jaggary and bring to a nice boil one more time. Finally add the corriander leaves and mix well.

You can serve this with puri, chappathi and dosas. To make a chat out of this, you can pour this channa masala in a plate and top it off with some finely chopped red onions, diced tomatoes, beaten curd, sweet & spicy tamarind sauce, sev, some corriander chutney and lemon juice. You can eat it as it is or serve it with some buttered toast or cutlet. The possibilities are countless. Just use your imagination...

Going on a break again

Yes friends. I'm going on a break for one week. This is b'coz "B" is in need of his laptop for his new travel job. He will be gone for one week. Hopefully I will get my lappy by the weekend and also be able to accompany him to florida the week after. Couldn't go this week as Kavin and me are still recovering from the flu. I suffered so much that I narrowly escped from being admitted due to dehyderation. Hope we will come back to normal soon. I successfully completed one thing today. I kept up my promise of going through all the posts (295 posts) that I missed during my previous break. My! you girls are posting in jet speed that I'm unable to keep up with all of you. Anyway, Take care and will see you soon!

Palak and Black Eye Pea Vadas

Here is another dish with Black eye peas. You can call it vadas if you shape it or just drop it in oil without shaping it- you have fritters. This vada tastes very differnt from the channa dal vadas. It is crunchy on the outside and so soft on the inside. Recently I saw these pea fritters in one of our fellow bloggers blog. But I'm so sorry. I forgot who it was. Anyway, that's how I was reminded of this dish that I had made years ago... maybe 4 years back.

I saw this dish in the 'melting pot' foodtv show. A carribean cook did this. I don't remember her name. She served it with cucumber raitha. Initially, I was doubtful of the combination , but I remember that my hubby really enjoyed that combo. I tried to locate the recipe from 'Food TV' but couldn't find it. So, I recreated the recipe to best of my knowledge. Also, I added palak for my touch. It tasted sooo good.

Hey, I know what you are thinking. You might wonder what am I doing with fried foods when I'm bragging that I'm on diet.

Actually, I didn't eat even one. Just tasted the batter for seasonings before frying it. 'B' wanted a tea time snack, so it was made just for him. He relished all the vadas without any one to compete for it. Didn't have time for the raitha. So I served it just with tomato ketchup and sweet tamarind sauce. My hubby liked it both. Ok, it's time for the recipe. Here goes.

Ingredients:
Black eye peas- 1 cup (soaked overnight)
onion- 1/2 (finely chopped)
clove- 1
saunf- 1 tsp
ginger- 1/2 "
green chillies- 3
salt- as needed
palak- 1/2 cup (chopped. can add more if needed)

Procedure:
Drain the soaked peas. Grind it with clove, saunf, ginger, chilli and salt to a coarse batter. Do not add water. Otherwise the batter will become runny and you can't shape it. Scoop out the ground paste and add chopped onions and palak. Mix well. Test for seasoning level. Finally shape them into vadas and deep fry in oil. Serve it hot with cucumber raitha, sauce or mint chutney.

Peas Masala

Here is another simple dish that goes very well with chapathi, naans and Ghee Rice. Yes, it it Peas Masala or Mattar Masala. You can use the frozen peas for this dish if you are running short of time. But I like the fresh ones or the dry ones the most for this dish. Here I have used the dried ones. I soaked them overnight and boiled them the next day. It's tastes so different from the frozen ones. So, let's go to the recipe.

Ingredients:
Green Peas- 2 1/2 cups
Onion- 1 (small or medium)
ginger- 1"
garlic- 3 pods
fennel seeds- 1 tsp
cumin- 1/2 tsp
corriander seeds- 1/4 tsp
corriander leaves- a small fistful
mint leaves- 2 or 3 (optional)
green chilli- 1
tomatoes- 1 big
turmeric- 1/2 tsp
chilli powder- 1/4 tsp

chicken masala powder- 1/2 tsp(can use garam masala or any other masala powder)
salt- as required
water- 1 1/2 cups.

Procedure:
Soak dry peas overnight. Next day boil until just done with some salt and set aside.Heat oil in a kadai. Grind everything from onion to green chillies. Add this paste to the oil and fry until you get a good smell or until the raw smell goes away. Then add finely chopped tomatoes and all the curry powders. Saute for 5 mins until the tomatoes gets all mushed up and the oil spots appear on top. Then pour water. The measure for water is approximate. You can add more or less as needed. Bring it to a nice boil. Then add boiled peas and boil one more time. Garnish with corriander leaves. You can add some cream or malai to make this gravy rich. Adding some cashew nut paste makes the gravy rich too. I've not used any of those here. But you can try it if you want. These can make your dish taste the best only setting apart the calorie aspect. I served mine with roti on the day I made. Next day I served it for Dosas. Tasted great with both.

Channa Pulav / Biryani

In the past week some of you might have seen that my blog went topsy turvy. That's b'coz I made a bad decision of changing my template. Although I really liked my new template , it was too hard for me to make the alingment and colors work right. I spent an entire day experimenting and finally I gave up. I decided to stick to my original one atleast for the time-being.Ok , I hear you all saying.... "What's cooking ?". So, let's move to it. Today it is Channa Biryani or Pulav. The recipe is not any different from our regular pulavs. But adding channa instead of the vegetables is the only variation. It's quite a change from the usual dish. My normally complaining hubby itself enjoyed it. So, you can get the idea that it was pretty good. Now to the recipe....

Ingredients:
Basmathi Rice- 2 cups
water- normal ratio is (1: 1 1/2) where 1 is rice and 1 1/2 is water. But my cooker needs a little more water, so I follow (1 : 1 3/4)
Oil- 2 tbsp
cardamom- 2
cloves- 2
bay leaf - 1
cinnamon stick - 1"
fennel seeds- 1/2 tsp
star anise- 1
Onion- 1/2 (sliced)
Tomato -1
mint leaves- chopped (handful)

corriander leaves- chopped (handful)
Potato- 1 (skinned and cubed)
Channa - 3/4 th cup
ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp
green chillies- 2 (slit)
turmeric- 1/2 tsp
chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
salt- as per taste
coconut milk- 1/4 cup (optional)

Procedure:
Soak channa in water overnight. Next day boil it in a cooker until 3/4 th done. Drain and keep aside.Heat oil in a cooker and fry all the spices. Next add the onions and saute until golden brown. Then add ginger garlic paste and green chillies. After a minute add potatoes and fry for another 5 mins. Next add tomatoes, mint and corriander leaves.

Saute until the tomatoes are mushed up. Then add turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Saute until the raw smell goes. Next add coconut milk and water. If you are adding coconut milk count that also as water and measure it accordingly. Close the cooker and allow the water to come to a boil. Don't put the vent yet. After a few minutes add rice and channa. Mix well and close the cooker again. When you see the steam coming up consistently put the vent on and keep the flame in medium. Set the timer for 8 minutes and then switch off the gas. Wait for the steam to subside. Open the cooker and give a good mix. Add some lemon juice (1 tbsp) and corriander leaves. Serve it hot. I did mine with cucumber raitha and some chips. Here is another closer look. Hope you give it a try and enjoy it too!

Breaking the Break with a Cake

Well...I'll start with an apology for disappearing out the blogsphere without any notice. Initially it was my son and the holidays that kept me busy. After awhile, I kind of became a little lazy to blog. Also, like most of the people I chose the "weight loss" as my New Year Resolution. So all my favorite and comfort foods are off-limits for now. That's why I didn't check any of your blogs either for the fear of facing temptation. I'm so sorry that and I promise to check all of your posts soon.

Although this was a long break, I have accomplished a few things with Kavin. He has started eating normal foods without pureeing. In just 2 weeks his diet has changed completely. He now eats a wide variety of food and I have become tension free. I consider this as my "8th World Wonder" as I have been thinking when that "time" would come for Kavin to stop gagging on foods and eat normally. I also feel that ever since I posted the info about Kawasaki disease many people had been sending their prayers and blessings for Kavin and that seems to have changed him sooooo much. I have no words to express my THANKS to each and every one of you for all your support. Coming to the cooking part, I have been doing it everyday but rarely took pictures of it. Anyway, here is my first cake that I baked for "B" for his b'day. He is not a big fan of frostings.

So I chose this pineapple upside-down cake and I followed the recipe from my Southeren Living Cookbook. The cake turned out really good and we enjoyed every single bite of it. It tasted exceptionally good with some ice cream on the side. For a amature baker like me this recipe turned out to be a great success. I hope you try it too if you haven't baked this cake before.

Ingredients:
Butter or margarine- 1/2 cup
Brown sugar - 1 cup (firmly packed)
pineapple slices - 3 (8 1/4 oz) cans undrained
Pecan halves- 10 ( I did not use it as I didn't have it)
maraschino cherries- 11 (cut into halves) (use more like me if you want to)

large eggs - 2 (seperated)
egg yolk- 1
sugar- 1 cup
All-purpose flour - 1 cup
baking powder- 1 tsp
ground cinnamon- 1/2 tsp
salt- 1/4 tsp
vanilla extract- 1 tsp
cream of tartar- 1/4 tsp

Procedure:
This recipe calls for using a cast-iron skillet. But I had only cake pans so I went ahead and used it. First you melt the butter in microwave and pour it in the cake pan.

Spread it evenly. Then sprinkle brown sugar and press it to the bottom.Drain Pineapple, reserving 1/4 cup juice. Set juice aside. Arrange pineapple slices in the pan as desired. You can keep it whole or cut it up. Place a cherry half in the center of each pineapple rounds. Other than that you can arrange cherries as you like.Beat 3 egg yolks at high speed with an electric mixeruntil thick and pale. Gradually add sugar and beat well. Combine flour and the next 3 ingredients. Stir well. Add to egg mixture alternately with reserved 1/4 cup pineapple juice. Stir in vanilla.

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold beaten egg whites into batter. Spoon batter evenly over pineapple in the cake pans. Bake at 350 deg for 45 to 50 mins or until the cake is set. You can tell that the cake is done when you see that the toothpick you insert in the center of the cake comes out clean. Rest the cake for 10 mins and then invert it. Pour any remaining glaze on the top of the cake. Cut it into wedges and enjoy it while it is still warm with some cold vanilla ice-cream.I hope not to take a break anymore. But I'm going to limit my blogging hours as I don't want to sit in my couch all the time. I'll visit all of your blogs in the weekend and make up for the lost time. Take care guys and have a great weekend.