ALOO GOBI

Ingredients:
Cauliflower – 1
Potato – 1, medium, peeled and chopped
Tomato – 1, medium, chopped
Onion – 1 medium, chopped
Garlic – 2 cloves, chopped
Ginger – 1”, grated
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Fennel seeds – ¼ tsp
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Hing – a pinch
Red chili paste – ½ tsp, optional
Red chili powder – ½ tsp
Garam masala – ¼ tsp
Salt

Cooking procedure:
Remove the florets from the cauliflower and cut them into small pieces. Wash the florets with hot tap water and keep in colander for the water to drain.
In a big skillet, heat some oil. Add the mustard seeds, when the mustard seeds start to splatter add the fennel seeds. Then add the onion, fry the onion till translucent. Then add the ginger and garlic and sauté for a minute. Reduce the flame and then add the turmeric powder, hing, red chili paste, red chili powder, salt, tomato and mix well. Then add the cauliflower and potato and mix well. Cover the skillet and let cook till the cauliflower and potato gets cooked, on medium heat. If you think the aloo gobi is very watery, then remove the cover and cook on mediun high heat, so that the water gets evaporated. Finally add the garam masala and let cook for 2 more minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve it with roti/chapatti.

EGG CURRY WITH COCONUT MILK

Ingredients:
Eggs – 6
Onion – 1 big, finely chopped
Tomato – 2 medium, chopped
Garlic – 3-4 cloves
Ginger – 1”
Black pepper corns – 5-6
Laung – 2-3
Cinnamon stick – 1”
Cardamom – 2-3
Bay leaf - 1
Red chili paste – 1 tsp, optional
Red chili powder – 1 tsp
Garam masala – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Hing – a pinch
Cumin powder – ½ tsp
Coriander powder – ½ tsp
Coconut milk – 1 can
Salt
Everest meat masala – ½ tsp

Cooking procedure:
Boil the eggs, remove the shell and keep aside.
In a big skillet, heat some oil and add the peppercorns, laung, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaf. Then add the onions and fry them till golden brown. Then add the ginger garlic paste, sauté for a minute and then add the tomatoes. Mix well and cook till the oil separates. Then add the red chili paste, red chili powder, turmeric powder, hing, cumin powder, coriander powder and salt. Mix well and then add 1-2 cups of boiling water. Let it boil for 2-3 minutes. Then add the coconut milk and bring the curry to a boil. Now add the eggs (score the eggs before adding to the gravy). Scoring marks on the egg will allow the gravy to infuse the flavors inside the eggs. Finally add the coriander leaves and meat masala and let cook on low flame for 4-5 mins. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve with roti/ chappati or rice.

SOY LAUKI KABAB

Ingredients:

Soy chunks – 1 ½ cup
Garbanzo beans – 1 can
Lauki – 1 cup, grated
Ginger – 1”
Garlic – 2-3
Green chilies – 4-5
Chopped coriander leaves – 2 tbsp
Chopped mint leaves – 1 tbsp
Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Corn flour – 2-3 tbsp
Fresh bread crumbs as required
Salt

Cooking procedure:
Soak the soy chunks in hot water for 2-3 hours. Add salt to the grated lauki and keep aside for 15-20 mins. Then squeeze out all the water from lauki. As the ingredients are been prepared keep on transferring them to a big bowl. Remove the water from soy chunks and squeeze out as much water as possible from the chunks. Then grind the chunks using a blender or food processor to form granules. Drain the water from the garbanzo beans and grind them to fine powder. Make ginger garlic and green chili paste. Mix all the ingredients well. Add the bread crumbs as required. Don’t add too much bread crumbs or it will change the taste of kabab, so make sure you squeeze out all the water from soy chunks, lauki and no water in garbanzo beans. Form oval shape kababs and deep fry till golden brown.

You can also shallow fry them, in that case shape them in small size patty and don’t add corn flour. These kababs are crowd pleasers in parties. You can make the mixture a day ahead in keep in refrigerator and on the day of party you just need to fry them. Serve these kabab with green chutney or kabab chutney.

KABAB CHUTNEY

Ingredients:
Chopped Coriander leaves – 1 cup
Garlic – 2
Green chilies – 2-3
Cumin powder – ½ tsp
Salt
Lemon juice
Yogurt – 1 ½ cup

Grind coriander leaves, garlic, green chilies, cumin powder and salt to a fine paste. Whip the yogurt and add lemon juice and the coriander paste. Mix well.

RAJMA CUTLET

Ingredients:
Cooked Rajma – 2 cup
Cabbage – 1 cup, chopped finely
Cooked Couscous – ½ cup
Cooked rice – ½ cup
Onion – 1, medium chopped
Green chili – 3-4
Ginger – 1”
Roasted besan – 2-3 tbsp
Salt
Fresh bread crumbs as required

Cooking Procedure:
Put the cabbage in microwave safe container and microwave on high for 2 mins. Cover and keep aside to cool. Make ginger and green chili paste. Mash the rajma. Take some oil in a small pan and add the chopped onions. Sauté till the onions get translucent. Transfer the onion to a big bowl and let it cool down. Then add the cooked couscous, cooked rice, cabbage, mashed rajma, ginger green chili paste, salt, besan and bread crumbs. Mix well. If you think the mixture is soggy, then add more bread crumbs. Cover the mixture and keep aside for 15- 20 mins to absorb all flavors. Take small portions of the mixture (size of ping pong ball) and shape it into a patty. Shallow fry the cutlet on medium flame till brown. Serve with tomato ketchup. This recipe is a very nice way to use the leftovers. If you don’t have couscous, you can replace it with rice.

CHICKEN CURRY – FAMILY RECIPE

Ingredients:
For masala paste:
Onion – 1 small, sliced
Dry coconut – ¾ cup
Roasted chana dal – 1 ½ tbsp
Rice – 1 tsp
Laung – 3-4
Black pepper corn – 8-10
Cinnamon stick – 1”
Garlic – 5-6 cloves
Ginger – 1”

Chicken – 1 kg
Onion – 1, medium chopped
Bayleaf - 1-2
Ginger – 1”
Garlic – 2-3
Coriander leaves – ¼ cup, chopped
Hing
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Red chili powder – 2-3 tbsp
Garam masala – 1-2 tbsp
Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Shahjeera – ¼ tsp
Salt
Coriander leaves for garnishing

Cooking Procedure:
Take some oil in a pan and add onion. Fry the onion till brown, and then add laung, black pepper and cinnamon stick. Fry for a minute. .

Then add the roasted chana dal and rice. Roast till the dal and rice turn brown.

Then reduce the flame and add the dry coconut.

Roast till the coconut gets brown.

Remove the pan and keep aside to cool. Transfer the mixture to a blender, add garlic, ginger and grind to a fine paste.

In another pot, heat some oil and add the bayleaf and chopped onion. Sauté the onions till they get light brown. Then add the ginger garlic paste. Fry for a minute, then add the chicken and fry it on high flame for 10 mins, stirring continously. Then reduce the heat and add 1 tbsp of red chili, 1 tbsp garam masala, all of the coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, hing and shahjeera. Mix everything very well and then add salt. Add boiling water till it covers all the chicken, cover the pot and boil the chicken on medium heat till it get tender. Make sure you add boiling water, it makes nice gravy. It takes about 30-35 mins for chicken to cook.
In the pan in which you roasted the masala, heat some oil. Add the masala paste and fry till the oil starts separating. Then add the remaining red chili powder, garam masala and salt. Fry for 1 min. then add ½ cup of boiling water and continue to cook, stirring continuously. Oil start to separate as the masala gets cooked removing the raw flavor. Then add this masala to the chicken. Add boiling water as required, according to the thickness of the gravy. Let boil for 5-10 mins. Finally add the chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with roti/ chapatti or rice. You can also make mutton/ goat meat curry using the same recipe. This is how my grandmother and mother used to make chicken curry.

You can make the masala paste ahead of time. To do this fry the masala paste in oil till the oil seperates, add little haldi. Let the paste cool completely and store in freezer. It stays nice in freezer for a month. You can use small container to store, so that you can use one container at a time. When you need the masala paste, remove from refrigerator, microwave it or thaw it, put it in pan add red chili powder, garam masala and the paste is ready to go in gravy.

HOW TO STORE ONIONS

Sometimes you buy a big bag of onions from farmers market or any store because it was cheap and when you come home you wonder how to store them so that they can be used for a longer time, without spoiling them.

Onions should be kept in cool, dark and dry place. They should be spread out in the container to ensure proper air circulation. I keep onions in a wooden basket; they last for 2-3 weeks without spoiling. I keep the onions in the basket shown in the picture.

Onion can also be stored in refrigerator. To do this cut and discard the root end and stem end of the onion. Peel off the out layers of the skin. Place the peeled onion on the piece of plastic warp. Tightly wrap the plastic around the onion. Repeat the process for other onions. Now keep these wrapped onions in a ziptop bag. You can use these onions for a week. The great advantage to store the onions in this way is that when cut them you will have no tears. Also due to individual wrapping, you won’t notice any onion odor in refrigerator. Some times the butter and milk can easily catch onion odor.

BEETROOT PARATHA

Ingredients:
Beet root – 2, medium size
Wheat flour as required
Garlic – 3-4
Green chilies – 5-6
Sesame seeds – 1 tbsp
Ajwain seeds – ½ tsp
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Cumin powder – ¼ tsp
Hing – a pinch
Salt
Freshly chopped coriander leaves

Cooking Procedure:
Peel the beet root and pressure cook it till tender. Don’t add any water while boiling. After it is boiled, let the beetroot cool completely. Puree the beetroot, garlic and green chilies to a fine paste. Add little water if required while grinding. Transfer the puree to a big bowl and add the turmeric powder, hing, cumin powder, salt, sesame seeds and coriander leaves. Mix well. Then add the flour as required till soft dough is formed. Dough should not be too hard. Cover the dough and keep aside for 15-20 mins
Divide the dough into small balls. Take one ball, roll in dry flour and roll it into a small circle of 2 inches radius, apply oil on the top surface. Fold the circle in half to form a semicircle. Apply little oil on the semicircle and fold to form a triangle. Then roll the triangle to form the thin paratha. By folding the dough in this way, will make multiple layers and make the paratha soft. Roast the paratha on a heated tawa/ griddle on both sides by applying little oil. Serve with yogurt. The color of the paratha is very attractive, kids love to eat. I have 2 year old son and he likes this paratha very much.