Indian Cooking Challenge - Kashmiri Dum Aloo

I was almost ready to give this ICC Challenge a miss as I could not find baby potatoes in any nearby store. I think the use of baby potatoes makes this dish extra special and authentic. Fortunately, I found these at Trader Joes today and made this traditional Kashmiri dish this evening. It turned out pretty well. I made a few changes to the original recipe which I have noted below.

Ingredients -
For the Marinade -
12 -13 baby potatoes / even small potatoes
3- 4 nos Kashmiri red chiles - roasted and powdered (I used - 1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder)
2 1/2 cups Fresh yoghurt (must not be sour)
1 tsp Ginger powder (I used - 1 tsp minced ginger)
1 tbsp Fennel/aniseed powder
1/2 tsp Cardamom powder

For the Masala -
4 tbsps Mustard oil (I used - regular Canola oil)
6 cloves roasted and powdered
A pinch of asafoetida
Vegetable/ canola/ sunflower cooking oil to deep fry potatoes
1 tsp Cumin seeds, roasted gently and ground into a powder
1 tsp Garam masala
Salt to taste
A cup of firm dough made from flour and water

Method -
1. Wash the potatoes well and poke all over with a fork. Then soak in water for 20 minutes. You can mix a tsp of salt to the water you are going soak the potatoes.
2. Heat a pan with oil for deep frying, Then reduce to medium flame and roast all the potatoes till golden in colour. Drain on a kitchen towel and keep aside
3. In a bowl, add yogurt, chili powder, ginger, cardamom and fennel powders and mix well into a paste. Then add the potatoes to this paste and keep it aside.
4. Heat the mustard/ regular canola oil in another pan, add the clove powder and asafetida and mix well.
5. Then add a half cup of hot water and salt to taste and bring to a boil.
6. To this mix, add in the potato-yoghurt mix, stir thoroughly and cover.
7. To do the dum, seal the edges of the pan's cover with the dough to ensure no steam can escape. Put on the stove, cook on a low flame for 10-15 minutes.
8. Turn off the flame, remove the cover and add the cumin powder and garam masala powder, and cover again quickly. Leave for 5 minutes.

Plantain Vadai/ Plantain Fritters

This place has been dead for a while. Life has been very hectic and busy and it has been a real challenge to find some time to post new recipes. But I love blogging and I'm going to try posting atleast a few recipes every month from now on.

It has been snowning all day today and I was in a mood to have some hot and spicy deep fried snack. I love dal vadais/ fritters and always try experimenting adding new veggies to the vadais. I had couple of plantains in my refrigerator that had to be used up. The key here is to use slightly ripe plantains which give these vadais a nice sweet flavor. These vadais tasted heavenly!

Ingredients -
1/2 cup channa dal
2 plantains/ raw bananas
3-4 dried red chillies
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 green chillies
10-12 curry leaves finely chopped (optional)
1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
1 cup finely chopped onions
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
salt to taste
oil for deep frying

Method -
1. Soak channa dal in water overnight or for 4-5 hrs.
2. Cook the plantains/ raw bananas in a pressure cooker.
3. Drain all the water from the dal and grind the dal along with the dried red chillies and cumin seeds into a coarse paste in the food processor/ blender.
4. Peel the skin off the plantains and mash them making sure there are no lumps.
5. In a bowl, take the dal mixture and add the mashed plantains, onions, green chillies, curry leaves, cilantro, ginger and salt and mix well.
6. Heat oil in a pan or kadhai.
7. Make small flat patties of the mixture and deep fry in the hot oil on both sides till they turn golden brown and crisp.

Indian Cooking Challenge - Punjabi Kadhi Pakoda

I havent participated in the last two ICC challenges bcoz of my sudden trip to India. So I had decided to participate in this month's ICC Challenge no matter what! In fact when Srivalli chose Simran's Punjabi Kadhi Pakoda for September challenge, I browsed through the recipe and thought I would make it within a couple of days following her announcement and posting of the recipe. However, life has been very hectic both at home and at work and I havent been cooking a lot these days. I just got done making this delicious kadhi pakoda and I'm posting this just in time. Though, I make buttermilk kadhi very often, my version is more like the Maharashtrian/ Gujarati kadhi where ginger, curry leaves and green chillies are mainly used for flavoring the kadhi. Besides, I have never added any pakodas to the kadhi so that was something I had never tried making before. I just tasted the kadhi and it tasted awesome. However we will be having it for lunch tomorrow.

I made a few changes to the original recipe. I replaced the yogurt with buttermilk, added some finely chopped fenugreek/ methi leaves to the onion pakodas and reduced the amounts of certain ingredients called out in the original recipe.

Ingredients -

For Pakodas -

1/2 cup besan / chickpea Flour

1 medium onion sliced

1/4 cup finely chopped fenugreek/ methi leaves

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp red chilli powder Water

Oil for deep frying

For Kadhi -

11/2 cups buttermilk

21/2 cups water

1/4 cup besan/ chickpea flour

3/4 tsp mustard seeds

3/4 tsp cumin seeds

3/4 tsp ajwain/ carom Seeds

3/4 tsp methi / fenugreek seeds

1 large onion finely chopped

1 pinch turmeric powder

Red Chili powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp amchur/ dried mango powder

Method -

1. Slice onions lenghtwise. Take the chickpea flour, salt, red chill powder and chopped fenugreek/ methi leaves in a bowl. Add some water to it to make a batter of a semi thick consistency.

2. Heat some oil in a pan/ kadhai for deep frying. When it is hot, dip onions in the batter and gently drop into the hot oil. Deep fry until crispy.

3. Drain and keep aside.

4. For the kadhi, take some buttermilk in a bowl and add enough water to it. Now add chickpea flour, salt, sugar, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and mix well to make a very thin batter.

5. Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan. When the oil in hot, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, carom seeds and methi/ fenugreek seeds. Let them splutter for a few seconds.

6. Add the finely chopped onions and fry till they turn light brown.

7. Pour in the buttermilk batter and bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer for at least half an hour. Keep stirring occasionally.

8. When you feel it is pretty thick, add the reserved pakodas and bring to boil. Add garam masala and amchur powder to the gravy just before taking it off the stove.

Beetroot Chutney

I have made chutneys with veggies like ridge gourd, eggplant, onions and tomatoes in the past, but tried beetroot chutney for the first time. I came across this recipe on Tarla Dalal's website and tried it out with a few changes. The ingredients used in this chutney are similar to our traditional coconut chutney with the addition of grated beetroot which makes this chutney very healthy. The beetroot also gives it a beautiful dark red color. This chutney tasted awesome with the Nachni/ Ragi Dosa I made for dinner last sunday. (Nachni Dosa recipe to follow).

Ingredients -
1 cup shredded beetroot
1 small sliced onion
1 tbsp oil
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp urad dal
1 big garlic clove
1 tbsp chopped ginger
3-4 dried red chillies
5 curry leaves
4 tbsps fresh grated coconut
2 tbsps crushed peanuts
2-3 tbsps chopped cilantro

For the Tempering/ Tadka -
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp urad dal
1 pinch hing/ asafoetida
3-4 curry leaves

Method -
1. Heat some oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and urad dal and fry for sometime.
2. Add curry leaves, dried red chillies, garlic and ginger and saute for sometime.
3. To this add sliced onions and cook them for some time. Then add grated beetroot and cook for some more time. Add fresh grated coconut and crushed peanuts and cook for couple of mins.
4. Allow this cooked beetroot to cool completely. Grind it into a fine paste in your blender. Take it out in a bowl and add some chopped cilantro.
5. Heat some oil in another pan. Add mustard seeds into the hot oil. When they splutter, add urad dal, asafoetida/ hing and curry leaves.
6. Pour this tempering on the chutney.

This goes to Priya's 'Healing Foods - Beetroot' event, originally started by Siri.

Doodhi Methi Muthiya/ Bottle Gourd Fenugreek Dumplings

I have been away from the blog world for over a month now. I was in India for a few weeks for my brother's wedding. The wedding went really well and we had a blast. Also enjoyed wearing my beautiful sarees and jewellery for all the wedding ceremonies. The only sad part is I did not get to spend enough time with my bro and my lovely SIL :-(. Well, will do that when I go back to India next year.

Since I got back from India, there has not been much activity in my kitchen. This Doodhi Methi Muthia has been in my archives for a while and so I finally decided to post this today.

Muthiya is a very popular Gujarati dish which can be served as a snack or as a meal by itself. It's named after the way it's made with the "gripping" action of the fist ("muthi" in gujarati). This dish can be served either steamed or fried after steaming. Of course, my preference is the latter version. My mom would make these very often at home. She mostly made doodhi muthiya, but these can be made with methi, cabbage, zucchini or also a combination of veggies of your choice. She typically made these by adding a mixture of handva flour (flour of different lentils) and chickpea flour. However, the other day when I made these doodhi methi muthiya, I added some sooji/ semolina in addition to the handva and besan flour and they really came out very light and yummy. The handva flour is optional and can either be left out or substituted with some whole wheat flour. I served these with some yogurt but they can also be served with some cilantro chutney.

I usually make a big batch of these and store the steamed muthias in an airtight container in the freezer. When ready to serve, just thaw the muthias and flavor it with nice aromatic vaghar/ tadka. They stay fresh in the freezer for up to 2-3 weeks.

Ingredients -
For the muthias -
4 cups grated bottle gourd (doodhi / lauki)
½ cup chopped methi/ fenugreek leaves
½ cup chopped cilantro
1 medium size onion, grated
1 cup handva flour/ wheat flour (You may need to add more)
1/2 cup semolina
1/2 -1  cup gram flour/ besan
2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tbsp red chilli powder
2 tbsps cumin -coriander powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsps fennel seeds
3-4  tbsps ginger-green chilli paste
1-2 tbsps finely minced garlic
3- 4 tbsps lime/ lemon juice  
6 tbsps oil
1/2 tsp soda bi-carb
1/2 tsp hing/ asafoetida
2 -3 tbsps sugar
salt to taste

For the Tempering and Garnish -
4-5 tbsps oil
2 cloves
3-4 small pieces cinnamon
3 dried red chillies
7-8 curry leaves
2 tsps mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsps sesame seeds
1/2 tsp hing/ asafoetida
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup fresh grated coconut

Method -
Muthias -
1. Squeeze all the water out of the grated bottle gourd and keep it aside to knead the dough if required.
2. In a bowl, combine all the ingredients for the muthia and form a soft dough adding the water squeezed out of the grated bottle gourd if required.
3. Form long cylindrical muthias of the dough. Grease your palms with some oil to avoid the dough from sticking to your palms.
4. Steam the muthias for 15- 20 mins. Insert a toothpick in the center of the muthias to check if they are done. If it comes out clean, the muthias are cooked.
5. Let the muthias cool and then cut them into thick slices.

Tempering/ Tadka -
1. Heat some oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds. When they crackle, add the cumin seeds.
2. Add the cloves, cinnamon, dried red chillies, curry leaves and fry for sometime.
3. Then add hing/ asafoetida and sesame seeds
2. Add the sliced muthias and fry for 10- 15 minutes till they are slightly brown in color and crisp.
3. Garnish with coriander and coconut.
4. Serve hot with yogurt or cilantro chutney.

I'm sending this to Nayna's 'Flavors Of Gujarat' event.

Tondli/ Ivy Gourd Raita

We are not big fans of ivy gourds also known as tondli or tendli. Few weeks back, I saw fresh tender ivy gourds in the Indian stores and was tempted to buy them. However, instead of making our regular  'tondli chi bhaji', I made this simple tondli raita. In this dish, tondli is deep fried and seasoned with some spices. This perfectly seasoned crispy tondli is then added to some thick yogurt to create this delicious and refreshing raita. This is a perfect side dish with any Indian meal and goes well with rotis/ parathas and also rice- dal.

Ingredients -
2.5 cups sliced ivy gourd/ tondli/ tendli
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp hing/ asafoetida
1 pinch turmeric powder
1/2 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 tsp green chilli paste
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro (plus more for garnishing)
1 cup plain yogurt (cup used for dry measurements)
1 tbsp coarse peanut powder
1 tsp sugar (to taste)
2 tsp oil + oil for deep frying
salt to taste

Method -
1. Deep fry the chopped tondli (cut lengthwise) and take it out on a paper towel to drain excess oil.
2. Heat some oil in a pan and add some mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the cumin seeds, hing, turmeric, finely chopped ginger and green chilli paste and fry for sometime.
3. Add the fried tondli, salt and finely chopped cilantro and mix well. Cook for sometime till the tondli becomes crisp.
4. Beat some yogurt and add some salt, sugar and peanut powder. (The tondli already has some salt so adjust the salt accordingly).
5. Just before serving, add the tondli to the yogurt and mix together. Garnish with some more chopped cilantro.

This goes to Suma's 'Sidedishes from India' event.

Corn Cutlets

Although I have been trying out new recipes in the kitchen for quite some years now, I started cooking full fledged meals only after I got married. Though not a novice in the kitchen, I certainly had some trouble initially estimating and cooking the right portions/servings for the two of us. Most of the times, D thought I had either invited people over or was not planning to cook for the next few days :-). Back then, I really didn’t like to eat/serve the same food for consecutive meals but also didn’t want to waste the leftovers. So, I would dump them in a plastic container in my refrigerator and we would call this a 'well' :-). After I had enough leftovers in the container, I would add some boiled potatoes, finely chopped onions, green chillies, cilantro and few other seasonings, mash them all up and make delicious cutlets from them. Every week the cutlets had a delicious unique taste which was impossible to recreate.

Over the years I have overcome that problem and so we don’t have many leftovers these days. Last week, I made these stuffed corn parathas and had about a cup of the corn stuffing which was not enough to make a few parathas for the 2 of us. So, I used that leftover stuffing, a slice of leftover bread and few other ingredients to make these tasty corn cutlets for a quick evening snack. Like I said before cutlets with leftovers taste awesome and these were no different!

Makes 12 -15 cutlets
Ingredients -
1 cup corn stuffing
1 small boiled potato
1 tsp minced green chillies
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
1/2 cup corn kernels
1/2 tsp frankie masala (You can also use chaat masala)
1 slice bread
1 tsp lime juice
Salt to taste
Bread crumbs as needed
Oil as needed

Method -

1. Take the corn stuffing in a bowl.

2. Mash the boiled potato. Dip the slice of bread in water, squeeze out all the water. Add the mashed potato and bread slice to the stuffing.

3. To this add green chillies, chopped cilantro, corn kernels, frankie masala/ chaat masala, lime juice and salt. Mix all the ingredients and knead well making sure there are no lumps.

4. Form small balls of the mixture and flatten them. Heat the skillet or tava.

5. Coat the cutlets with bread crumbs and shallow fry them in some oil. Fry both sides till they turn golden brown. Serve with tomato ketchup.

I'm sending this to TorView's Veggie/ Fruit A Month - Corn event originally started by Priya Mitharwal.

Also sending these to PJ's Scrumptious Delights From Leftover event.

Sabudana/ Sago Thalipeeth

Sabudana/ Sago Thalipeeth is another traditional maharashtrian flatbread which is mainly prepared during fasting days. These are made using the same ingredients as the sabudana khichdi but are definitely more forgiving - unlike sabudana khichdi where the sago soaking process is the crucial step in its preparation, these thalipeeths turn out well even if the sago is not perfectly soaked. Though, I love khichdi very much, sometimes I prefer these thalipeeths over the usual sabudana/ sago khichdi. I usually make these with leftover khichdi, by adding some more boiled mashed potatoes and adjusting the seasonings as needed. But last week, I soaked some sago and made these from scratch. I served these with some sweet yogurt, but they also go very well with peanut- cilantro chutney. These taste awesome and you will have to make these to believe me!

 

Ingredients -
1 cup sabudana/ sago
2 large boiled potatoes (@ 3 cups mashed potatoes)
7 green thai chillies
1 cup dry roasted and shelled peanuts
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 cup finely chopped cilantro
2 tbsps sugar / to taste
Salt to taste
oil/ ghee for frying

Method -

1. Wash the sabudana throughly with water and discard the white water, drain and set aside. Sprinkle the sabudana with some water and toss them with a spoon. Repeat this process every 30 mins or so for the next 2-3 hrs or till the sabudana is soft.

2. Grind the peanuts, green chillies and cumin seeds into a coarse powder.

3. Place the sabudana in a bowl and add the mashed potatoes, peanut- chilli- cumin powder, cilantro, sugar and salt. Mix them well and form a dough.

4. Heat a skillet while you prepare the thalipeeths.

5. Take a medium size ziploc bag and place the ziploc on the rolling board/ polpat. Apply some water on the surface of the bag and place a medium size ball of the thalipeeth dough on it. Wet your hands and gently flatten the dough ball into a round thalipeeth.

6. Slowly lift the thalipeeth and roast it on the hot skillet on both sides. Drizzle few drops of oil / ghee on each side and fry for some more time, till it turns slightly golden brown.

7. Serve hot. Goes well with sweet yogurt or peanut -cilantro chutney.

This goes to Niloufer's 'Cooking with Seeds - Sago' event, originally started by Priya.
I'm also sending these to Sandhya's 'Global Kadai - Indian Flavored Flatbreads event, originally started by Cilantro.

Stuffed Corn Paratha

I love making parathas with different stuffings. Among these, aloo, methi and gobi stuffings are the most common and I make these parathas quite frequently. However, every once in a while I like to create some healthy stuffings with mixed vegetables, paneer or lentils. Couple of weeks back, I made these stuffed corn parathas with a tasty corn, coconut and lentil stuffing which were not only healthy but also very delicious. We had these with some carrot yogurt raita.

Ingredients -
For the dough -
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsps chickpea flour/ besan
1/2 tsp ajwain
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp oil

For corn stuffing -
2 cups yellow/ white corn kernels
1/4 cup yellow/ green moong dal
2 tbsps masoor dal
1 cup fresh grated coconut
15- 16 curry leaves
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced ginger
1-2 tbsps minced green chillies
1/4 tsp hing/ asafoetida
3 tbsps oil
Salt to taste

Method -

1. Take the wheat flour, besan, salt, turmeric powder, ajwain seeds, cumin seeds and oil in a bowl, mix together and knead into a semi soft dough with some water.

2. Grind the corn and curry leaves into a fine paste adding few drops of water only if needed.

3. Grind the soaked moong and masoor dal into a fine paste.

4. Heat some oil in a non- stick pan and add the corn paste. Then add the moong and masoor paste and mix well.

5. Add the minced ginger, minced garlic, minced green chillies, hing, salt and mix well. Cook for 5 minutes.

6. Then add the fresh grated coconut and cook this mixture for sometime till all the water evaporates and the mixture becomes very dry. Constantly stir the mixture to make sure it does not stick to the bottom of the pan.

7. Take a small piece of the dough and form a round ball. Roll the dough ball into a small 3-4 inch puri.

8. Place sufficient portion of the stuffing in the center of the rolled puri, gather in the edges and form a round ball. Further roll this into a paratha.

9. Heat a skillet/ tawa and place the paratha on it. Roast for sometime till it gets some brown spots. Flip the paratha and cook on the other side as well.

10. Now drizzle few drops of oil and cook the paratha till both sides turn golden brown. Serve hot.

I'm sending this to TorView's Veggie/ Fruit A Month - Corn event originally started by Priya Mitharwal.

I'm also sending these to Sandhya's 'Global Kadai - Indian Flavored Flatbreads event, originally started by Cilantro.

Kelyacha Halwa/ Banana Halwa

I haven't posted many traditional dessert recipes yet. So I thought of posting this simple halwa recipe to end this weekend on a sweet note!

Kelyacha Halwa is a traditional Maharashtrian/ Goan Halwa recipe. My mom made this very often when we were kids and we loved having it with chapati. However, it can be served just by itself as dessert or also with some ice cream. This is typically made from special bananas called rajali keli/ bananas. I couldn’t find these in any Indian grocery stores in our area. So I used regular ripe yellow bananas for this recipe and it came out super delicious.

Ingredients -
3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsps ghee/ clarified butter
2 cloves
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1 pinch kesar

Method -
1. Peel the bananas and chop them into thick round slices.
2. Add sugar to the banana slices and mix together.
3. Heat the ghee/ clarified butter in a pan and add the cloves. When they crackle add the banana slices.
4. Cook the bananas by covering the pan for 7-10 minutes on low heat till the sugar has melted and bananas are slightly cooked and tender. Stir occasionally to make sure the bananas dont stick to the bottom of the pan.
5. Add some cardamom powder and kesar and mix together. Can be served warm or cold according to your preference.

I'm sending this to Nivedita's 'Celebrate Sweets -Halwa' event.

Kansacha Rassa/ Corn Curry

I have been cooking a lot these days, however I just don’t have enough time to keep updating my blog as frequently as I would like to. Sometimes I cook dishes for a particular event and don’t get around to posting it before the deadline :-(. Hopefully, I'll be able to manage work, home, baby and blog more efficiently in the future.

Anyways, few weeks back, I was browsing through my recipe folder when I came across this traditional maharashtrian recipe of corn curry. I immediately decided to make this as D absolutely loves corn and I had some fresh whole corn in the refrigerator that had to be used up. The dish turned out really good …tasted like some delicious chicken/ mutton curry sans the meat.

Ingredients -
3 corn on the cobs
1 large red onion (@ 1cup roughly chopped red onions)
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 cup fresh grated coconut
2 whole dried kashmiri red chillies
2-3 cloves garlic
2 inch piece ginger
1/2 cup chopped cilantro + more for garnishing
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
3 tbsps oil
1/4 tsp hing/ asafoetida
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp coriander- cumin powder
1/2 tsp garam masala

Method -
1. Clean the corn by peeling off the husk and chop them into 3 inch pieces.
2. Add some salt and cook the corn in the pressure cooker.
3. Blend together fresh grated coconut, onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, cilantro and dried red chillies into a paste.
4. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add hing/ asafoetida,red chilli powder and turmeric powder.
5. Now add the masala paste and fry it till oil separates.
6. Add coriander- cumin powder, garam masala, salt and sugar. Mix well.
7. Add the pressure cooked corn pieces and some water and cook for sometime.
8. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

I'm sending this to TorView's Veggie/ Fruit A Month - Corn event originally started by Priya Mitharwal.

Indian Cooking Challenge - Kara Sev

When Srivalli announced 'Kara Sev' for this months ICC Challenge, I had planned to make a few batches of both the sev versions that were provided to us. However, this past month was relatively hectic and so I didn't get a chance to make these ahead of time. I literally got done making this sev few minutes back. The recipe was simple and easy to follow and the results were really amazing! I have made sev in the past several times either by using only rice flour or only besan but never a combination of the two. I think it was the combination of these two flours that made these sev very crispy and delicious! We both loved it very much!

Ingredients -
11/4 cup gram flour/ besan
1/2 cup rice flour
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp black pepper coarsely powdered
2 tsps butter/ Ghee
1 pinch cooking soda
3 tsps crushed garlic
Salt to taste.
Oil to deep fry.

Method -
1. Sieve both Gram flour and Rice flour together in a bowl.
2. Add red chilli powder, black pepper powder, salt, garlic, butter/ ghee and cooking soda.
3. Mix thoroughly with hand. It should look like bread crumbs. Divide the dough into 2 portions.
4. Take one portion of this mixture, sprinkle water, knead like Puri dough.
5. Heat oil in a kadai, use sev maker/ chakli press. Put some dough in the sev maker and press directly into oil.
6. Deep fry in oil , drain excess oil.
7. After cooling this off, store this in an airtight container.

Roasted Corn Guacamole

Couple of weeks back we had this Roasted Corn Guacamole at Chili's. We loved it so much that I decided to recreate this at home for a quick snack last weekend. The roasted corn adds some natural sweetness and a pleasant bite to the guacomole which we really loved. I think this is probably the best way to experience the true taste of avocados. I served these with some healthy flaxseed corn chips.

Ingredients -
2 Avocados
1 jalopeno
2-3 cloves garlic
1 lime
1 cup finely chopped cilantro
1/2 cup sweet corn kernels
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup finely chopped tomato (peel the tomato and chop into small pieces)
1 tsp oil
salt to taste

Method -
1. Cut the avocados in half, discard the seeds and scoop out the avocado from the peel into the blender.
2. Blend the avocados along with garlic and jalopeno into a smooth paste.
3. Heat a tsp of oil in a skillet and roast the corn kernels.
4. Add onions, tomatoes, roasted corn, cilantro, lime juice, salt to the avocado puree and mix well.
5. Serve with corn chips.

I'm sending this to Priya Mitharwal's A.W.E.D - Spain event originally started by DK of Chef In You.

Sabudana/ Sago Khichdi

Sabudana or Sagu Khichdi is a traditional Maharashtrian farali dish mainly prepared during fasting days. However, both D and I love this very much and so I make this quite often for breakfast as well. I usually make huge quantities of this khichdi so that I can use the leftovers to make sabudana vada or sabudana thalipeeth which we equally love. My mom makes the best khichdi and over the years I have learnt to make it pretty close to hers. The soaking process of the sabudana is the key to making a good khichdi. Here's my mom's recipe of sabudana khichdi.

Ingredients -
2 cups sabudana/ sago
1 medium boiled potato
1/2 cup peanuts
4 green chillies
2 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 tbsp ghee/ clarified butter
fresh grated coconut
finely chopped cilantro
1-2 tbsp sugar or to taste
salt to taste

Method -
1. Wash the sabudana throughly with water and discard the white water, drain and set aside. Sprinkle the sabudana with some water and toss them with a spoon. Repeat this process every 30 mins or so for the next 2-3 hrs or till the sabudana is soft.
2. Add sugar and salt to the sabudana and lightly mix.
3. Peel and chop the potato and add some salt and sugar to the potatoes as well.
4. Grind the peanuts, green chillies and 1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds into a coarse powder.
5. In a pan, heat some ghee and add cumin seeds.
6. Now add the potatoes and mix well.
7. Then add the sabudana, mix and cook for sometime covered on medium flame. Occasionally toss the khichdi.
8. Now add the peanut, cumin seeds and green chillies mixture.
8. Cook for approx. 10-12 min.
9. Garnish with fresh grated coconut and chopped cilantro.

This goes to Niloufer's 'Cooking with Seeds - Sago' event, originally started by Priya.

Fenugreek / Methi Recipes

In this post, I'm reposting some old entries and sending them to Priya Mitharwal's 'Think Spice - Think Fenugreek' event, originally started by Sunita of Sunita's World.

MALAI METHI MUTTER

CHAWLI METHI DHOKLA

 METHI NA DHEBRA