Taro root In Garlic Tomato Gravy/Kachalu thoom Main,Sindhi dish

Dear friends,I just shared the recipe for fried taro root and also mentioned taro root in gravy. So here is the recipe for Taro Root In Gravy.

Follow the same steps for shallow frying the taro root along with the masalas according to personal taste.

Keep the shallow fried taro root aside and follow the steps for the gravy now.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking time for gravy: 15 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
tomatos: 3 medium sized
Ginger: 1 tbsp
Garlic: 1 tbsp
Cilantro: 2 tbsp
Salt: to taste
Corrinader Powder: 1 tsp
Red pepper: 1 tsp
Turmeric: 1/2 a tsp
Garam Masala: tip of the tsp
Oil: 2 tbsp
asfoetida: a pinch

Method:
take a pan and add 2 tbsp oil.
When hot add tomatos,ginger,garlic and cilantro( chopped or pureed in the food processor) cook in the oil with all the dry masalas,till the oil starts to seprate from the masala on the edges of the pan. Add half a glass of water or depending on how thick  or thin you want the gravy to be .
Now add the fried taro root to this gravy and cook for 5 minutes covered so that the taro root absorbs some juices from the gravy.
Serve this with rice or roti.

Kachalu shallow Fried/ Taro root,corm boiled& shallow fried

Phew*wipes sweat off the brow* It took me a while to figure out the English name for Kachalu , honestly preparing taro root was easier than looking up the English name for it  :)

 As kids I remember eating Kachalu Chat prepared by my father for an evening snack . I was never found of it and always turned my nose,every time dad gave me some . Apparently  I did not mind the taste of taro root but I guess what bothered me was its texture . This vegetable has too much of soluble starch which gives it , its slimy texture. Later  on I learnt there are better ways to eat  & enjoy this vegetable.  I am sure there are those of you who probably like this vegetable for its  characteristic slimy texture but for those of you who do not-Then this recipe is for you :)

I have prepared the boiled & then fried taro root & then used the same fried taro root for a gravy based dish. I will be writing the recipes for both.

Taro Root/Kachalu Shallow Fried





Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
Taro Root/Kachalu: 8 pieces
Salt,pepper,carom seeds,coriander powder,mango powder : as per your taste
Oil: 4 tbsp

Method:

Take taro roots and boil them with little water in the microwave for 8 minutes or till well cooked.
Peel the skin,and slice the taro root vertically in two pieces with a sharp knife.
Take a shallow pan,heat 2 tbsp oil,when hot add carom seeds. Now keep the sliced pieces of taro root on the pan,let them shallow fry for 5 minutes or till the side in the oil starts to turn golden brown. Change sides and cook on the other side. Now add all the dry masalas and toss them,so they are coated well in the dry masalas. Sprinkle mango powder and add 2 tbsp oil and cook for some more time,till all the masalas are cooked well with the taro root.

Serve as a side dish with daal & roti .

Saiyun Patata/ Sweet Vermicelli With Spicy fried potatos

Dad used to be such a foodie,he would wake up in the morning and over the first cup of morning tea he would discuss the menu for the rest of the day with my mom . Sunday's were usually fun for him as he enjoyed participating and giving directions to my mom in the kitchen. Which my mom did not seem to mind :) So Sunday mornings were mostly  all about varieties of  delectable breakfast,lunch and dinner:)  My father & mom would explore options and than close on one, so basically we as kids never choose the menu either for breakfast,lunch or dinner ,not that it bothered us, we had grown to enjoy all the choices made primarily by my dad and then stamped by my mother :)

Sunday's were always associated with breakfast laid on the dining table, and mom hurrying around the Kitchen with dad over seeing the entire breakfast affair. I especially, remember enjoying  Sunday's  when the menu said- saiyun Patata/sweet vermicelli with fried potato . My mom made it the best,the vermicelli prepared by her is always so fluffy and fragrant with cardamom and her fried potato's are the BEST !!! ( she does not cook much now) I have to remind her this time in India to make me this  for breakfast or may be I could make her some :)

The dish is very unique as in the vermicelli is sweet and the potato's are spicy,and you have to try this to agree how well the sweetness and spices compliment each other . A very popular way of eating these two is with papad/poppadom and some mango pickle. mmm-mmm  All the memories from the past have flooded back in a snap-Like this :)

Preparation Time: 10 Minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4

Vermicelli: 1 packet ( crush the packet and break the vermicelli)
sugar: to taste
Almonds: few( sliced)
Cardamom: 2
Pistachios: few( cut into fine pieces)
Butter (unsalted) or ghee: 4 tbsp

Method:
Take a big kadai and heat 4 tbsp butter and roast fry the broken vermicelli till it turn a nice dark brown and starts to emit a fragrant aroma. Add the almonds,cardamoms and pistachios too.

Now add a glass of water and sugar to it. Cook till all the water is absorbed and the vermicelli is soft but fluffy and not sticking together. If you like it softer and gooey then add more water. I like mine to be fluffy and light.

Tariyal Patata/fried potato's

Ingredients:
Potato's : 1 pound chopped into small pieces
Salt: to taste
Oil: 2 tbsp
Cumin: 1/2 tsp
Red pepper: 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Cilantro: to garnish

Method:
take a kadai and heat 2 tbsp oil; when the oil is hot add cumin and then the chopped and washed potato's go next. Add salt and cover and cook. When the potato's are almost done,add the dried masalas and sprinkle some water and cover and cook for couple minutes again. garnish with cilantro & enjoy with the vermicelli/saiyun and papad/poppadom :)

Saila Bhindi/ okras in onions& tomato masala

I was in for surprise,when I moved to the east coast from India. Lady Finger is called okra here,which I was aware of even as a kid when at school we learned O for okra to establish our phonetic vocabulary. Well that was then  and long forgotten as in everyday usage these were referred to as lady Fingers. I am happy even though my hands are not as slender as I would like them to be,the fingers are -(Thank God or thank my genes)  not anywhere close to the Lady Fingers in appearance :) so I wonder where and how this name was derived . Well the surprise continued when I  learnt that I will find lady fingers only in an Indian Grocery store. I was sad, I like Bhindi/okra a lot. I was not ready to give up. Even ,if that meant driving 15 miles on a Thursday( the day my Indian Grocer gets his quota of groceries/vegetable) So all the other shopping was  planned around a Thursday and in the vicinity of the Indian grocery store. I have now given up that habit,as some regular stores like shop rite and stop& shop have started to carry Okras also I have now come to realize that 15 miles is  really  not all that far,initially miles were converted into kilometres and dollars in to rupees ;)

I prepare bhindi/okras in a number of ways and hopefully over the  coming months  I will be able to share all the recipes with my readers. For now here is saila bhindi/Okra in onion tomato masala ,I will dedicate this one to my mom and my mom-in-law. They are the original experts when it comes to saila bhindi .

serves: 4
Time: preparation: 15-20 minutes
cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
Okra : 1/2 kg
Red Onion: 1 large or 2 medium
Tomato: 1 large
Ginger: 20 gms
Garlic: 6-7 cloves
green Chilli: 2 number
Oil: 2 tbsp and oil for deep frying
salt: 1tsp
Coriander powder: 1 tbsp
Chilli Powder

Method:
Wash & dry the Bhindi/okras well,you can also wipe them dry with a kitchen napkin. Cut them into 1 inch pieces.
Deep fry these in hot oil along with garlic cloves for 5-8 minutes and keep them aside.

Slice the onions very fine and the tomato's also.

Now take a kadai and heat 2 tbsp oil. Saute the onions till light golden brown. Add the finely sliced ginger .

Now add the fine sliced tomato's  along with the green chilli and cook till the tomato is well cooked . Add salt and coriander along with chilli powder and cook till all the  dry spices are cooked well with the tomato onion masala.

Now add the deep fried okras and  garlic cloves & cook for a couple more minutes. Stir the sabji/vegetable gently making sure the okras do not break. You are now ready to enjoy the bhindi/Okra with roti/pav :)

Sindhi Kadhi/Bengal gram flour based tangy curry with medley of vegetables

Sindhi Kadhi is one of the most popular  signature sindhi dishes loved by most sindhi's. For me sindhi kadhi is," family get together's". My dad was in a transferable job and we mostly lived away from our ancestral home in Pune/India,where the rest of the family,which is my uncle,aunts and cousins lived year round. So every year over the summer break,we travelled to Pune to spend time with our family. Cooking used to be a big affair and Kadhi was the easiest and the yummiest option :) So amongst other things this was the most cooked dish on most days of our month long stay.  So this one is dedicated to all those wonderful summers spent  in our ancestral home with all my uncle's aunt's and cousins. Cheers !!!

I am still following the tradition and cook kadhi in large quantities :)
Serves: 6
Ingredients:
Besan/Bengal Gram flour: 1 cup
oil: 1/2 cup
Fenugreek seeds: 10-15
carom:1/4 tsp
cumin: 1/4 tsp
mustard: 1/4 tsp
curry leaves: 15-20
Whole green chilli's: 2-3
dried red chilli's whole: 2
asfoetida: pinch
salt: 1tsp
turmeric: 1/4 tsp
Ginger grated: 2 tbsp
tamarind pulp: 1/2 cup
vegetables: 50 gms of each- cauliflower,carrots, okra,drumstick, potato,peas,broccoli,eggplant,raw mango pieces without the skin.

Method:

fry okra's

Take a heavy bottomed large pan and add oil. Lightly fry the okras,as they tend to have a slimy texture on contact with any water based curry. frying them will help overcome this. When slightly golden brown remove and put aside.

Now to the same oil,add curry leaves,fenugreek seeds,carom,cumin,mustard seeds and when they start to crackle add the beasn/gram flour and fry till golden brown & when brown add the turmeric.







saute besan/Gram flour

 Now add 2 glass of water and let it boil for a couple minutes. Boil the potato's before hand as all the other vegetables will not take very long to cook. Add all the vegetables & ginger,wait till all the vegetables are al dente ,then add the tamarind pulp. Cook for 5 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice.

Note: if you like it thin add 2 glasses of water if you prefer it thick then reduce the quantity of water.

Bhugal Chanwarh/Pulav/Rice in Caramelized Onion

I had put up a picture of Bhugal Chanwarh/Pulav along with saibhaji in my blog yesterday. It would not be fair to raise my readers hopes and not post the recipe for Bhugal Chanwarh/Pulav. BTW I have grown up eating Saibhaji with bhugal Chanwarh/pulav and a fried/dry accompaniment on the side,like deep fried okras,potato's deep fried,or cauliflower with potato . My favorite is aloo gobi with saibhaji and pulav. My mom made the best aloo gobi,saibhaji and pulav,she rarely cooks now due to health reasons:(

This is very simple and easy to make and sometimes my daughter enjoys just bhughal chanwarh/pulav with Raita or sometimes just pulav with Indian pickle and papad/poppadom

Ingredients:

Rice basmati : 2 cups ( I use Tilda but there are many good varieties out there,just make sure the rice is aged and not new,else it has too much starch,which makes the preparation sticky)

Onion : 1 large
bay leaves: 1-2
cloves: 2
Peppercorns: 2-4
Cinnamon stick: 1 inch
salt : 1tsp
Oil/Ghee/Butter: 2 tbsp
Water : 2 glasses (600 ml) I cook in a big open vessel

Method:

Take a heavy bottomed pan and add 2 tbsp oil/ghee/butter
When hot add bay leaves,cloves,cinnamon,peppercorns and then add thinly sliced onion. Caramelize the onion and then add the rice and fry it for some time. Rice fried for some time will help in the rice not sticking together once it is done. Each grain will fall apart when served on the plate without breaking. 2-3 minutes of frying will do the job,now add the 2 glasses of water and salt. Let it cook on high flame for 2-4 minutes,when you start to see the rice through bubbles of water,reduce the flame to low and continue to cook without covering the pan. When almost all the water is absorbed by the rice and the  rice grain look 3/4th cooked cover it with a well fitting lid. now let it sit on low flame for 4-6 minutes and then turn off the flame. The pulav should be cooked.

Caramelizing Onion

frying the rice in caramelized onion

add water

At this stage cover the rice

Ready



 Enjoy the pulav :)!!!

Saibhaji/ Spinach cooked with Gram daal

A super healthy and  finger licking dish for sindhi's all around the world:)   This is a very traditional sindhi dish. A sindhi who has not eaten saibhaji is the most deprived Sindhi :(  Non Sindhi's I urge you to try this dish !

This dish is packed with nutrition and the goodness of garlic and tomato's. Very easy to make once you have the spinach washed and chopped. I normally buy the big 2 pound bag from Costco,clear my sink,fill it water and cut the bag open and drop all the contents into the sink. I will give it a thorough wash under running water.Then I steam it in the rice cooker in 2-3 batches and store it in separate containers for later use. So making saibhaji for me is super quick. But for those of you who do not buy this big pack I would recomend you wash it nice and chop the spinach which I do not ,as it has already been steamed by me.

Ingredients:
spinach- 1 small bunch or a small packet weighing 250 gms
Sua/Dill : 25 gms ( fresh not the dried one)
Chana dal/gram dal: 1/2 a cup soaked for 20 minutes
potato- 1 medium sized roughly diced into 2 inch pieces
I flowerlet of Broccoli and cauliflower each,carrots - 6 baby carrots , egg plant -2 inch piece , green mango -1 small peeled and washed. You can start to slice the raw mango till you get to the Stone/seed. Slice it close if you do not want to waste any. Get rid of the stone.
Tomato: 1 large
Green Chilli's : 2
Garlic- 6 flakes
Turmeric : 1/2 tsp
salt: 1tsp
Paprika: 1/2 tsp for seasoning along with 1tbsp olive oil.
asfoetida: Just a pinch ( It is an antiflatulent )

method:

Chop everything roughly, you can drop the cauliflower,broccoli and carrots without chopping into the pressure cooker along with everything else except for GARLIC, OIL and PAPRIKA. Add 1/2 a cup of water and pressure cook for 12-15 minutes. Chana dal takes slightly longer,it should easily mash when pressed between the finger and the thumb. Shut the flame and let it stay in the cooker till all the steam escapes on its own. Remove the lid and mash the entire contents with the back of the ladle or a potato masher till the appearance is smooth and no bits and pieces of vegetable are visible.

Now take a small frying pan,heat 2 tbsp oil and when the oil is hot add a pich of asfoetida and pound the garlic roughly and add to the oil.Shut the flame and  add 1/2 tsp of paprika and very quickly add this seasoning to the saibhaji before the paprika gets burnt in the hot oil and looses its red color. Enjoy it with bhugal Chanwarh/ rice

Note: I prefer a runny consistency,but it depends on personal taste ,there is no rule of thumb as such

I also cook saibhaji without the Sua/dil as my family is not very fond of Dil. Also you can cook saibhaji/spinach with out the carrots,cauliflower,broccoli,eggplant. All you need is spinach,chana dal,tomatos and preferably raw mango. Enjoy this wholesome dish : ) !!!

Serve it on the Bhugal Chanwarh and enjoy:)

Palak Pulav / Spinach Rice

My daughter was a fussy veggie eater,I was always inventing ways to camouflage the veggies the best I could. At times I would puree vegetable and knead them with the flour and make her paranthas,which she loved and loves them till date. I know most children are  picky eaters especially when it comes to veggies. The Spinach Rice/Palak Pulav recipe worked wonders with my daughter,and adults loved it too.I hope it works for you& yours:)

Ingredients:

Spinach a small bunch washed and boiled
1 large tomato
8-10 garlic pods
2 inch piece ginger
Cumin/jeera 1 tsp
Garam masala 1/2 tsp
salt acc: to taste
3 tbsp olive oil
2 cups rice soaked and washed

Method:
Grind the garlic & ginger in the food processor .Add boiled spinach and chop big pieces of tomato and add these in the food processor. Make a  choppy mixture not a paste.
Take a big open vessel or an aluminium kadai. Add 3 tbsp oil and wait till the oil is hot. Slide in Jeera and wait till you hear the sizzling sound,then add the choppy mixture along with the dry masalas and cook well till all the liquid dries up and the oil starts to separate. Add the rice and fry it in the mixture for 3-5 minutes. Add a glass and a half of water. Cook on high flame for first 3 minutes,then reduce the flame and cook uncovered for another 5 minutes till you see the grains of rice through these holes/bubbles.Then cover it with a tight lid and leave for 5-7 minutes.

Note: I use the tilda rice. Also make sure the rice is seasoned and not new. I never pressure cook rice,some how I like to have the control when it comes to rice dishes. I also eye ball the water that I add to the rice.

You can tweak the recipe here and there. I sometimes chop the spinach without boiling it and chop the tomato's as well. This comes out equally yummy.
Happy Cooking :)!

Sindhi Recipe-Khumbiyun Ji Bhaji -Mushroom vegetable.

I have to share this with all my readers. My love with cooking started way back when I was barely a teenager studying in 8th class. Also the first thing I ever cooked was Khumbiyun Ji Bhaji .

I was walking in my patch of the garden which I had cultivated after toiling for long hours on Sunday's, and lot of cheering and motivation from my other siblings. We used to live on  a  huge property in Ajmer , India.And my father had assigned a  patch  of land  to  each one of my siblings. We are 4 brothers and sisters,I am the youngest. We were asked to make this piece of  rocky patch fertile and ready to grow vegetables.  I wonder how we got roped in ,something as mundane as growing a vegetable patch since we were all in the age group of 12-18  I guess this is how it was in the 70's with no computers and video games and  Oh yes- Television was a novelty in those days. The doordarshan ( the only channel) would telecast," Krishi darshan ." A programme for farmers on farming techniques. LOL I am amazed how we survived that era, but we were all happy and enjoyed the little activities we did and looked forward to Sunday's when we would all work on our patches,all trying to out do each other. To cut a long story short,we all did quite well and did grow some seasonal vegetables. I converted my patch into a small garden with lawn and flowers. My school friend also helped me put some stakes around the grapevine which was always there,before I started to work on that patch. I was proud of my small garden :)


Suddenly out of the blue after a good monsoon season,I was inspecting my garden and I come across these very appetizing mushrooms. If I remember clearly there were some 4-5 almost in a clump,white and robust.I hurriedly ran to the house to get my father,he saw the mushrooms and smiled and pulled them out carefully,stem intact.He asked me if I would want to cook these,this would be my  very first brush with cooking so I felt very proud and happily accepted the offer. Dad verbally gave me the recipe and a few other tips for safety.

Here goes Khumbiyun Ji Bhaji :

Ingredient's:

For 1 pound mushroom : You can use button mushrooms.

7-10 pods of garlic

2  inch piece of ginger

3 medium sized tomatoes .
Fresh cilantro half a bunch

Salt acc: to taste

Turmeric 1/4 teaspoon

Coriander powder 1 teaspoon

Red chilly powder 1/4 teaspoon

Pinch of garam masala

Method

Take a non-stick pan or an aluminum/iron kadai,heat 2 tablespoon of oil and wait till it gets hot. Meanwhile pound garlic and ginger& cilantro( save some cilantro for garnishing) in a mortar with a pastel. Add this to the heated oil and then roughly chop tomatoes and add these to the garlic and ginger. Add all the dry masala's and cook till oil separates. Wash the mushrooms thoroughly and make sure there is no soil sticking in the crevices. Chop these roughly in any shape you desire and add this to the ginger,garlic tomato paste. I add these towards the end as my father always preferred his veggies to have that crunch. This is his recipe- Remember !  Now cover it for 3-5 minutes and let it cook on very low flame. You can keep it longer if you like the mushrooms to be tender to the bite.

Add chopped coriander and eat with phulka/roti.

Oh BTW my father loved the preparation and was so happy with my culinary start that he rewarded me with 5 Rs. My daughter calls it 5 Rs dish and this is one of her top favorites. This dish and the 5 Rs got me very motivated and thence started my love with cooking :)


I have just started my blog and  this is my first post but I promise I will put up pictures for every dish I write a post on.


Happy cooking  !!!

P.S I made this dish today and as promised earlier I am putting up pictures for this recipe.Enjoy!!!