A very simple okra recipe

Here is a simple recipe for my friend Kristi who likes Indian okra a lot!

Okra, or rather Chinese okra is called Bhendi/Bhindi in India. When shopping for okra, make sure you choose the slender and fresh green colored okras. If in doubt, break its tail with your fingers, it should break into 2 pieces crisply.


This is the recipe that we make very often in our Indian households, and should be eaten with Indian bread ( Chapatis or rotis ).


Ingredients:

For tadka,
2 tablespoon oil,
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds,
1/4 teaspoon hing(asafoetida powder),
1/4 teaspoon haldi (turmeric powder),
2-3 green chillies, diced according to taste.


For the vegetable,
1/2 onion, finely chopped,
1/2 kg or approx. 1.2 pounds of the okra, finely chopped in slices. The verticle slices look good with the shape of a honeycomb; the thinner the slices, the quicker the okra will be cooked.
1 teaspoon salt or as per taste,
red chilly powder if required as per taste,
chopped cilantro for decoration.


Procedure:

Heat oil, and add the mustard seeds. When the seeds start to splutter, lower the flame, and add the asafoetida and turmeric powders. Add the green chillies immediately and keep the vessel covered to avoid oil spillage. When the green chillies settle down, add the chopped onion and fry till tender and light brown. Add the chopped okra and keep stirring at medium or low flames. The tricky part is when the okra starts becoming sticky, but keep stirring without putting the lid and the stickiness will go away once the okra is perfectly cooked. The green color of the okra also changes to darkish green when it is cooked. When done, add salt and chilly powder if required and keep stirring on low flame for few more minutes.

Remove in a serving bowl and top it with fresh chopped cilantro.

A variation in taste could be achieved by adding 1/4 teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of dry mango powder or a dash of lime juice when adding the salt. If you add the lime juice, the stickiness increases a little bit more so you need to keep stirring on medium flame for some more time.

mushroom soup!

I really like the cream of mushroom soup but ever since I learnt it has milk in it (eeks!) I tried to avoid it completely. I invented a new version of the soup which tastes as good and doesn't have milk in it!

6-7 button mushrooms coursely cut
1 onion coursely chopped
2 pinches of black pepper powder ( or as per taste)
2 cloves
1 tblspoon of butter
1 tblspoon of all-purpose flour ( maida) or fine corn flour or rice flour
1-2 cup of water ( for desired thickness)
salt as per taste


Preparation:
Heat butter and fry cloves in it. Add chopped onion and mushrooms and saute till soft (about 7-8 mins) on medium flame. Add a pinch of pepper powder. Add rice flour or maida or corn flour and saute for a couple of minutes. Take care the flour does not stick to the pan and burn. Let it cool for sometime. Remove the cloves and puree the mixture coursely with some water. Add some water till it is of the desired consistency, the salt and pepper powder(if required). You could also add a pinch of dried basil powder for added flavour. Bring to boil. Serve hot with kroutons or toasted bread crumbs.

Tomato omelette (pure veg :)...)

Here is a recipe which might be different from traditional tomato omelettes but not a tad less in taste and a lot more healthier as it has proteins from bengal gram flour, carbohydrates from rice flour and wheat flour and vitamins from the vegetables. Additionally it can be done in very less oil if done properly.

Ingredients:
Bengal gram flour(besan) 1 small bowl
Rice flour 3-4 spoons
wheat flour(atta) 3-4 spoons
chopped tomatoes 2-3
chopped coriander 3 spoonfulls
chopped garlic 1-2 teaspoons
chopped green chillies 1 teaspoon
salt as per taste
red chilly powder as per taste
turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon
cooking oil
water

Procedure:
Puree the tomatoes in a mixer. Mix the tomato puree, the chopped vegetables, seasonings and all the flours. Add a teaspoon of oil to the mixture. Keep adding water in small proportions and stirring the mixture to avoid clumps, till you get a thick consistency like the mixture you would have to make bhajiyas. It should be thick but still pourable consistency. Heat a tawa or non-stick pan and season it with a few drops of oil. When it is hot, pour a big spoonful of the mixture on it and lightly spread it on the pan using the concave end of the spoon. Put a few drops of oil on top of it. Cover the pan and let it cook for a few minutes. When it is done, you will notice its colour changes and its surface looks dry. With a flat spatula, separate the sides of the omelette. If it gets stuck, using a few drops of oil on its ends. Flip the omelette and cook the other side of it on the hot pan without the cover, for about a minute. Serve hot with groundnut chutney.

Easy-to-make groudnut chutney recipe:
Mix 2-3 spoons of roasted groundnut (peanut) powder, salt, chilly powder, 1/2 teaspoon sugar in 3-4 spoons of curds. Add water if required.

Shengolya/Kadboli (Indian Pasta!)

Here is a very simple & interesting side-dish I learnt from my dear Mother-in-law. It closely resembles the Italian Pasta but is entirely handmade including the pasta. Here it goes:

For the Pasta (actually called the Kadbolya) :
Wheat flour 1 bowl
Salt 1.5 teaspoon or as per taste
Green chillies 2-3 as per taste, make a fine paste
Ginger-garlic paste 2 teaspoon
Parsley seeds ( Owa ) 0.5 teaspoon
red chilley powder 0.5 teaspoon or as per taste
Jeera powder ( cummin seeds) 0.5 teaspoon
Dhaniya powder ( coriander seeds) 0.5 teaspoon

Mix all these into a fine dough, with water and a little oil. Divide it into small balls of 1 inch diameter. Using both hands, roll out each ball into tube-shaped pasta and press the 2 ends of these tubes onto 1 another. Look at the figure for illustration. This is traditionally called the Kadboli.


For the sauce:
Make tadka of 1 teaspoon oil. Heat it and put mustard seeds. Let them splutter. Put asafoetida powder and turmeric powder (0.5 teaspoon each). Add 2 bowls of water and let it boil. Then add the Kadbolis in the boiling water and simmer for 10 minutes. Garnish with coriander and serve hot.

Alu Wadi

Here's 1 more healthy & tasty recipe learnt from my dear Mom. Alu wadi is a traditional Maharashtrian side-dish and very easy to prepare:

7-8 Alu chi paane ( Colocasia leaves ),
A bowl of besan ( chick pea flour ),
salt as per taste,
red chilly powder as per taste,
tamarind pulp 2 teaspoons or as per taste,
jaggery 1 teaspoon or as per taste,
oil 2 teaspoons,
usual tadka material i.e. mustard seeds, asafoetida & turmeric powder.

1) Wash & clean the colocasia leaves.
2) Make a thick paste of besan, 1 teaspoon oil & water. Add salt, red chilly powder, tamarind pulp & jaggery to the besan paste & mix well.
3) Take a group of 3-4 colocasia leaves. Keep the largest of them on a flat surface, with its shining surface facing upwards. Apply the besan paste to this leaf into a thin layer. Keep another leaf on top of this & apply besan paste again. Likewise do it for all the leaves.



4) Roll the collection from its root side to its tip and every time apply a little paste on the clean surface of the leaf that comes up.
5) Steam the roll for about 15 mins in a pressure cooker without its whistle. When completely cooked, the dough will not be sticky & the leaves will look cooked.
6) Cut circular pieces of the roll about 1 cm wide. The Alu wadi is ready to be eaten with or without tadka.
7) Heat the remaining oil, add mustard seeds and wait till they splutter. Add asafoetida & turmeric powder. Pour this tadka over the alu wadis.
8) Garnish with chopped coriander and/or fresh grated coconut.

Vaal Dhokli... Whew my first kitchen blog!

I am quite fond of R&D in my kitchen. I need a lot of variety to spice up my cooking skills otherwise it becomes very routine & boring for me. And tell you what, google does come handy to find a variety of recipes online! The other day I was reluctant to make the usual chapatis & sabzi, so I started searching for some healthy 1 dish meals! I was particularly looking for my personal favorite, a gujarati dish called Vaal-Dhokli. Surprisingly, I could not find even a single para on this dish on the net! So I thought, why not write about this recipe myself? So here it goes:

Vaal Dhokli Recipe:

Ingredients:
Surati Papdi 1 bowl
Semolina 1/2 bowl
Wheat flour 1/2 bowl
Gram flour 1/4 bowl
cummin seeds 1 teaspoon
parsley seeds 1 teaspoon
Jaggery 1/2 teaspoon
Ginger 1 teaspoon grated
Green chillies 1 or 2 as per taste
roasted groundnut powder 2 teaspoons
red chilly powder 1/2 teaspoon or as per taste
salt as per taste
dry mango powder a pinch or as per taste
oil, mustard seeds, asafoetida & turmeric powder for tadka.

Procedure:
Make a hard dough of the semolina, wheat floor & gram flour, with cummin seeds, a teaspoon of oil, red chilly powder, turmeric powder & salt. Make small balls of the dough & flatten them by palms into cookie shaped pieces.
Heat oil and put mustard seeds in it. When it starts sputtering, add asafoetida & turmeric powder to it. Add 2 cups of water and the washed & cleaned surati papdi. Add parsley seeds, salt, red chilly powder, finely chopped green chillies, grated ginger, dry mango powder & jaggery to the boiling water. Finally add the pieces of the dough & keep covered on medium flame for about 10 mins.
Garnish with coriander & serve hot.