Baingan Ka Bharta/Eggplant Grilled & Cooked in Onions& Tomatos

 Friends-Buy the biggest eggplant which weighs around a ton ;) I learnt this from my mother-in -law,when I first started to go veggie shopping with her:) Her golden rule of thumb-When buying an eggplant for  especially Bharta,"make sure it is heavy,you will get all flesh and less seeds." & when buying capsicums/bell peppers,"make sure you pick the lightest of the lot to avoid too much of seeds inside."  I got more tips from her than I ever did from my mom in this department,and honestly they have all come very handy and I am sure you will remember these next time you are picking up an eggplant & bell peppers :)

I picked every eggplant and mentally weighed it and then put it down  (people around me probably thought I was out of my mind or something )  finally I settled on this medium sized  one which weighed around a pound & compared to the others in the lot it looked around the same in size but weighed  comparitively more :)

Set the broiler on 500 d fahrenhiet and after poking the eggplant,cover it in a foil and keep it on the top rack right unedr the broiler for 20-25 minutes. Pull the top tray with your mitts on and insert a knife through the foil inside the eggplant if it goes through as smooth as a butter it is done. Let it cool. remove the skin or scoop the flesh with a round spoon and start the bharta preparation.

Ingredients you will need:

Onion: 2 medium sized very finely chopped
Tomato: 2 large sized chopped
Ginger: 1 tbsp
Garlic: 1 tbsp
Salt: to taste
Turmeric: 1/4 tsp
Red chilli powder: 1/2 tsp
Corrinader powder: 1 tsp
Garam masala powder: 1/4 tsp
Cilantro: 1 tbsp chopped for garnish
Green chilli: 2 whole( just for flavor)
Olive oil: 3 tbsp

Method:

Take a kadai and heat the oil.when hot slide the chopped onion and saute them till they turn a  rich deep brown. You can sprinkle a little water in between if the onion start to stick at the bottom. Now when you have the desired color add the ginger,garlic and salt and cook for 2 minutes.

Add tomatos and the rest of the dry spices  except the garam masala and cook till it gets a nice rich color and you see the oil appear at the edges. Now add the scooped eggplant and take a potato masher or with the back of a spoon,mash the eggplant  intermittently till everything looks smooth and well blended ,now add the green chilli and cover and cook for 5 minutes. 

Uncover the bharta ,sprinkle the chopped cilantro and the garam masala and squeeze some lemon jiuce and serve with roti's.

Moong Daal & Chaval & Gobi / A complete meal

A very popular ,nutritious and wins hands down when it comes to one of those comforting meals. This meal reigns supreme in all the above mentioned departments in the Bhagia household. Also I had promised Mahir I would put this up on the blog especially for him-There are times when I am not around and he has to make long distance calls to get the recipe for these. So I know this should come in very handy for him and for those of you who are living the ,"forced bachelor" days. This is not at all time consuming and even easier for those of you who use separators in the pressure cooker to make two or three things simultaneously :)

Recipe For Moong Daal:

Moong Daal dhuli : 1 cup washed & soaked for 20 minutes
Salt: To taste
Turmeric: a pinch
Olive Oil: 1 tbsp
Curry leaves: 10-12
Tomato: 1 medium sized chopped
Cumin/Jeera: 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds: 1 tsp
Cilantro washed & chopped: 2 tbsp
Asfoetida: a pinch
Ginger grated: 1/2 tsp

Take the washed daal and pressure cook it with 2 cups of water, grated ginger,salt & turmeric and 1 tsp of oil to avoid the froth and spilling. After the first whistle,I let it cook on medium flame for 3-4 minutes and then take it off the flame & let the steam release on its own.

Now take off the lid and mash the daal with the back of the spoon and add enough water to make it as thin or thick you would like it to be.I make it soup like to enjoy it with the rice and roti as well.

Keep it on medium flame again and let it come to a rolling boil,keep stirring it so it does stick to the bottom. Add the chopped cilantro also while it is boiling.

Meanwhile take a small kadai/pan and heat the remaining oil,when hot add the mustard,cumin and asfoetida,when it starts to splutter and the chopped tomato's and cook for a while, now add red pepper to this and pour this on the daal. You will get a nice rich color and it will make the daal look and taste very appetizing.

Recipe For Gobi:

Gobi: 1 small bunch of cauliflower  washed &cut into small florets.
Ginger: 2 inch piece cleaned and chopped or grated
Onion: 1 medium chopped
garlic: 2 flakes chopped
Tomato: 1 medium chopped
Salt: to taste
Asfoetida: a pinch
Red Pepper: 1 tsp
Turmeric: 1/4 tsp
Coriander Powder: 1 tsp
Garam masala: a pinch or little more
Green chilli's whole: 3
Cumin: 1 tsp
Olive Oil: 2 tbsp

Method:
Take a kadhai, and heat the oil,when it turns very hot add the cumin,hing/asfoetida and let it splutter.Now add the chopped onions and grated or chopped ginger ,garlic and saute till golden brown.

Add the florets and saute them on high flame for 2-4 minutes. Making sure to give them a good shake every once in a while. Now add salt and turmeric and cover the pan with a tight fitting lid for 4 minutes or till the gobi is 3/4 th cooked.

Now take the lid off and add the remaining spices along with the chopped tomato's and cover it for some more time or till the gobi is cooked. I like the gobi to have a crunch so I do not cook it all the way but leave it 80% cooked.

Garnish it with chopped cilantro and also squeeze some lime juice before serving it with rice & daal.

 Note: If  Mahir can cook rice without a recipe then I am hoping every one can :0

Besan Wali Zucchini/Zucchini Cooked in Gram flour

Friends,I hope everyone had a great Holi with friends & family. We had a big get together in our house on the 19th which went on till the 20th afternoon ,there was lots of good food and sweets from Raj Bhog and we played with Abir/color,I wanted to put up a picture of me with my friends in holi colors,but it will have to wait due to technical difficulties :( And I cannot believe it is the first official day of spring here and it snowed for us :(

Personally I prefer eating anything cooked with Besan/Gram flour on a cold wintry or rainy day.So here is a very tasty zucchini vegetable cooked with besan from my drafts,it has been lying in there for quite some time,I must have cooked it on one of those cold wintry ,rainy days. This one is very simple to make and the besan and mango powder along with other non-dominant spices makes this zucchini dish very special and different from the regular zucchini fair :) So I hope you will give this one a try,here it goes:

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
Zucchini: 4 cut lengthwise into two pieces and then cubed into 1- 2 inch pieces
Oil: olive oil: 2 tbsp
Red dry chili: 4
Kalonji/nigella seeds: 1 tsp
Gram flour: dry roasted 1 tbsp and then cooled
Red chili powder: 1 tsp
Turmeric: 1/4 th tsp
Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Mango powder: 1 tbsp
Jeera/cumin powder: 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Lime Juice : To squeeze at the end of the preparation  is optional

Method:

Take all the dry spices in a big owl except nigella/kalonji seeds & the whole chilli's and mix the zucchini along with the spices in the bowl and give it a good shake.Leave it marinated in these spices for 10 minutes.

Now take a frying pan and heat the oil.When it is hot add the nigella seeds/kalonji  and the whole dried chilli's,wait for a couple minutes before you add the zucchini to this oil.  Now slide in the zucchini and stir it nicely in the oil. Fry it for a couple minutes,till you see a nice glossy coat on all.Now cover and cook with a tight lid for 7-10 minutes. Leave it a little crunchy,it tastes better when it has a nice crunch to it. Also make sure when you remove the lid to check on the doneness,do not let the water build-up from the steam drop in the zucchini,this will make the zucchini wet and when you cover it again it will get soft and will not be able to retain its crunchiness.

Enjoy this with roti's with some daal on the side :) Also don't forget to squeeze some lime juice if you enjoy it tangy & spicy.

Tom Yum Goong & My 100th Post

I had not believed I will make it this far,something that had started as a whim has now become a passion. Thanks to all my lovely followers and all my loyal readers,who have been a constant source of inspiration on this journey that I embarked  upon on 13th of October 2010. It has already been over 6 months and 6 days-WOW :)!!! . This has truly been the most rewarding experience for me and I eagerly look forward to creating some exciting recipes ,taking pictures, publishing the posts and waiting for the final verdict which lies in the feedback which I constantly get from each one of you:) THANKS to all !!! *takes a bow*


Today's post reminds me of my trip to Bangkok, when I was first introduced to Tom Yum Goong soup. This is a hot & fiery soup which has a medley of herbs which give this soup its distinct flavor which cannot be replicated without the quintessential Thai herbs,viz: lemon grass,galanghal which belongs to the rooty knotty ginger family and is a cross between ginger & pepper, kaffir leaves-which impart a citrucy flavor. We were at chatuchak weekend market which  I think  is not only the largest market in Thailand but also the largest in the world. You will find everything from clothes,artifacts,electronics to food here. Most of the stalls here open only on Saturdays and Sundays and stay open all day and  through the night.

 It was interesting to watch people savor the exotic dishes being served from even more exotic traditional pots. I was intrigued by so many different aromas and  could not stop but drool at the sight and smell of the food,we had come to the market on a full stomach but surprisingly after walking and shopping and bargaining for some time ,I was ready to indulge my taste buds to some of the exotic stuff I had been  feasting my eyes on . Mahir was ready too-So we found this very interesting sit-out restaurant which seemed to be buzzing with people around 1:00 A.M in the morning, when in a new place always judge the restaurant by the number of people in there. We had a strong hunch about this restaurant's popularity and sat down on one of the tables and took some time looking at the menu, all the local names  for the dishes were somewhat overwhelming and honestly we were stumped by it all. We watched the waiter who was bringing the orders to other tables and figured out that there was one dish which was being ordered more frequently than others. We closed in on that and asked the waiter to get us what he had just served on the other table,he was a smart waiter and excitedly explained what we should anticipate,he could also talk a little English so we felt confident with our order which was Thailand's most popular and the yummiest soup-tom Yum Goong.

I found this picture on the net - I want everyone to see how Tom Yum Goong is authentically served in Thailand and this is how me & Mahir enjoyed this hot and flavorful soup from this  traditional Chinese hot-pot , which keeps the soup piping hot till you have savored the last tiny sip. Tom Yum Goong is typically the soup with prawns and some straw mushrooms and large pieces of galanghal which is tender and is not as pungent as ginger.This soup is fiery hot and distinctly sour with so many refreshing flavors from the different herbs.

The rest of our stay in Bangkok was a culinary delight, but Tom Yum Goong remains my favorite till date . I craved this soup more often than I imagined I would and that was around the time I had just relocated to  the US and I had no clue where I could find all the herbs,so on one of Mahir's business trips to Bangkok,I asked him to get some lemon grass,galanghal and kaffir lime leaves . My friend Sunita in Bangkok offered to shop for all this and packed it nicely for Mahir to carry it on the flight back. It has now been  a little over 6 years here and I have found my way to all the exotic ingredients.You should look for all these in an Asian store/oriental food market  or sometimes the street vendors in China town also carry these.  I was excited to make this soup at home with all the fantastic herbs Mahir managed to sneak in  on the flight for me :0

Here is the picture of the soup I made and continue to make till date:)

Ingredinets:

Prawns: 10

Kaffir  Lime leaves: 4-6

Lime juice: 2 tbsp

Water : 6 cups

Straw mushrooms or oyster mushrooms: 8-10

Red Chilli Paste: 1 tsp or 1 tbsp depends on your tolerance for spices (nam prig pow)

Lemon grass: 1 long stem

Fish sauce: 2 tsp or to taste

Galanghal: 2 inch piece cut into medium sized rounds

Cilantro: to garnish

Notes: Crush the lemon grass  with the back of a pestle  to release its flavors,  kaffir lime leaves can unfortunately not be substitued by any other ingredient as these impart a very distinct flavor to the soup . I have also used celery,and wanted you to know it is optional.

      

Method: Take the water  in a pan and add galanghal,lemon grass , kaffir lime leaves and  mushrooms and let it boil for 5 minutes .When all the flavors from the herbs have released ,take it off the flame and add the cleaned and deveined prawns and cover the pan. Do not boil the prawns lest they  become hard and rubbery. After a couple minutes add the fish sauce,chilli paste and lime juice  and garnish it with lots of  chopped cilantro. You can add more or less fish sauce,chilli paste depending on your taste . This soup tastes good when it is hot and sour :)                                                                                                

Chicken Badami/Chicken Cooked With Almond Meal

Last couple weeks have been very busy for the Bhagia household. We were down south last week visiting Manasi's prospective school as she had to appear for an interview and orientation. She has yet to decide on the one school she really wants to go,but it will still have to wait till she has heard on the the regular decisions in April.

The snow has finally stopped here on the east coast,and the weather has also started to warm up just a little :) It has been a very long and harsh winter this year and I bet everyone here is more than eager to welcome the spring:) BUT we cannot be complaining ,there is so much worse happening in the world. The earthquake in Japan is so devastating and even though we cannot do much it is still some solace to see so many countries rise to the occasion in times like these. I hope the help that is being extended does reach out to those who really are in their hour of need & help. God bless everyone with courage and hope ,Amen !!!

I have not been blogging as regularly as I would wish to but I most certainly have been cooking and saving all the pictures,hopefully I will reach the 100th post very soon.

This recipe I am posting today is very simple to make but tastes absolutely delicious,for those of you who are partial to red curries this one does not have the red color but has all the flavors and just the right amount of spices to keep your taste buds engrossed with its luscious creamy texture infused with kewra and cardamom and Cinnamon. This goes very well with plain phulkas/rotis and also with jeera rice. It will taste even better if you leave it overnight in the fridge and enjoy it the next day.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
Chicken cut into small pieces: 1 pound
Onion: 1 medium size chopped or sliced
Green chilli: 2 or 3 depending on your spice tolerance
Tomato: 2 medium sized
Ginger grated or paste: 1 tbsp
Almond meal: 2tbsp
Cinnamon: 1 piece (1 inch)
Green Cardamom seeds: 3 cardamoms
Cloves: 3
Olive oil: 3 tbsp
Kasoori methi: 2 tsp
Kewra water: 3 drops
Honey: 2 tsp

Method:

Take a pan and add 2 tbsp oil and let it heat. When hot add the cardamoms,Cinnamon & cloves.Now add the sliced onions and saute till golden brown.

To this add ginger,green chilli and chopped tomato's  along with salt and cook for 10 -15 minutes,till the tomato's are cooked well and do not smell raw.

Take this entire mixture and run it in the mixer till it turns into a smooth paste.

Now take a pan and the remaining 1 tbsp oil and saute the chicken pieces in this,till they turn white on the outside and the chicken is partially cooked. Now add the pureed onion mix to this chicken add 1 cup water and the almond meal. Give it a good mix and leave it on low flame covered till the chicken is fully cooked. Now add 2 tsp honey and mix it well.

Finish it with  3 -4 drops of kewra water and garnish with 2 tsp kasoori methi roasted and crushed. Enjoy this hot with roti,phulka,naan or tandoori roti :)

Bhugal teenwad / Bhuna Gosht / Goat Meat

Slow cooking brings out the best flavors when cooking goat meat. This recipe has been patented by ,The Bhagia" family I think :) My brother will enjoy meat cooked in this particular fashion and no other. Mahir on the other hand is always open to trying new recipes. On my last couple trips to India I closely watched my bhabhi cook this meat and I was fascinated by the amount of time it took to prepare this and get the desired color and aroma it emanates when slow cooked for hours at end. I also asked her to pack me the"sipri" made of thick cast  aluminium which she uses to  specially cook this meat. The ingredients  for this recipe are very basic,the key to its excellent taste is the amount of time that goes into its cooking. It is absolutely OK to prepare this in a pressure cooker,you will still achieve the desired results.I call this literally the labor of love,and use no pressure whatsoever :)

Time It takes To Cook: Approximately 2 hours

Ingredients:
Tender,young goat meat: 1 pound  mixed pieces
Red Onions: 3 medium chopped fine
Ginger paste: 1 tbsp
Garlic: 1 tbsp
salt: to taste
Red Kashmiri pepper: 1 tsp or more
garam masala: 1/2 tsp
Turmeric: 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder: 1 1/2 tsp
Tomato's: 3 medium chopped
yogurt: 1 cup
Olive oil: 5 tbsp

Take the meat and mix it nicely with the yogurt & half of all the dry spices and half of ginger & garlic paste.Let it the meat stay in the marination for at least 30 minutes.If you find the time,you can marinate it for longer. Do not add the garam masala to the marination.


Take a dutch oven or anything which is heavy and made for slow cooking. Heat the 5 tbsp oil to smoking point and then add the chopped onion along with salt.After sauteing it for a few minutes,cover the dutch oven for 5 minutes,till the onion turn pink and soft. Take off the lid and slow cook the onions without the lid on high flame and do not leave the onions unattended.

Now take the marinated meat and add this to the onions. There will be enough liquid in the beginning and you can leave it alone for the first 20 minutes but checking on it once or maybe twice.

When  all the liquid starts to get absorbed & dry ,the onions will start to get a golden color. You can reduce the flame to medium now and continue to scrape the bottom every now and then,this will give the onions a nice deep rich brown color.

Now add the remaining ginger and garlic to the meat and onions. Continue to cook on medium flame. every now and then when the onions stick to the bottom,sprinkle some water and scrape the bottom. Every time you do this you will notice the onions and meat will get a deeper color.

By this time you would have cooked the meat & the onions for 1 hour and also achieved the desired deep dark brown color. Now add the chopped tomato's and add the garam masala & the remaining dry spices .Continue to cook for more time ( 30 minutes or so) everything should by this time come together and you will start to see oil appear at the edges.

Now add 2 to 3 cups of water and if you are pressure cooking halve the quantity of water and pressure cook for 15 minutes and then drop the pressure by covering it with a wet towel. If not pressure cooking than add 2-3 cups water and cover it with a well fitting lid and leave it on low flame for 40 minutes to 1 hour or till the meat is tender and easily comes off the bone. garnish it with chopped cilantro and serve with garam rotis.

 

Mushroom Matar Makhanwala- The best :)!!!

Sangeeta and I had been to PF Chang's last night and we had brought home lots of left over food from there,I enjoy their lettuce wraps a lot and between the two of us we had 4 each and were full by the time I had finished half bowl of the hot & sour soup so the entrees had to be packed. We were saving room for the dessert-which was carrot cake and lime cake...ooooh...that was good and yes- I have to mention we enjoyed dinner after having watched Kings' Speech- An excellent movie wherein Colin Firth has stolen many a hearts with his English accent stutter-Wow!!! I have watched him in Pride & Prejudice,Bridgete Jones and love actually etc and now this-His acting skills are phenomenal and he always does complete justice to the character he plays. I just hope he wins the Oscar's today*finger crossed* He totally deserves it .

Today Manasi is back from Chicago and on her special request I am making her most favorite Daal Chawal,something she always seems to miss when she is away from home for more than a week . No- I don't mean to post that now,I will be doing that soon though for Mahir,he needs to look at it and prepare it in my absence.That reminds me I have to do it soon before I stay back in India and he and Manasi fly back here. There is still time and being the procrastinator that I am-Think it will wait till the last minute :0

So today's post was technically prepared in Schenectady NY( Sangeeta's house) but is being published from CT. We were in no mood to eat PF Chang's food again ,moreover on our way from NY city we had stopped at Hannafords to pick up veggies ,so we were keen on exausting those while they were still fresh. I looked at the mushrooms and pictured something rich and creamy,I had a good  40 minute gruelling workout in the morning and wanted to reward myself :) I looked through Sangeeta's pantry and found everything I would need so Mushroom Makhanwala it had to be :) Very easy to prepare,no complicated steps,and turns out this dish is super delicious and goes very well with tandoori roti or even plain phulka. This is also a great main course dish for those who are fond of entertaining friends & family, fetches lots of compliments and it is hard for people to belive that it was prepared at home and not some topnotch resturant :)

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
serves 3

Ingredients:
almonds: 15-20
Onion: 1 medium sized sliced thin
Ginger paste: 1 tsp
Garlic paste: 1tsp
white Button Mushrooms: 1 packet  about 20 mushrooms washed and halved
Green peas : 1 cup
Cinnamon: 1 inch piece
Green cardamom: take the seeds and save the skins for tea or something alike
fresh Cream: 2 tbsp optional
Olive oil or butter: 3 tbsp
Turmeric: Little more than a pinch
Kashmiri Red pepper: 1/2 tsp or to your taste
salt: 1/2 tsp or to your taste
Honey: 1 tsp
Kasoori Methi: 1 tbsp roasted ,cooled & then crushed on the vegetable as a finishing touch

Take a pan and heat the 3 tbsp oil or butter.
When the oil is hot add the cinnamon and cardamom,when it starts to emanate the aroma add the sliced onions and saute till they turn translucent.
Now add the ginger and garlic paste along with salt,turmeric and red pepper.
Take the almonds and grind them in the coffee grinder to a fine powder and add this to the onions. Add 1/2 cup water and turn off the flame.When cooled puree this in a smoothie maker. Turn it in to the same pan.
Now take a seprate pan,add 1 tsp oil and add peas and mushrooms to this saute this for 5 minute or till cooked but still crunchy to the bite.
Add these to the puree and put it back on the flame ,at this stage you can add a tsp of honey and blend it well ,and if you feel like add some fresh cream and serve with either tandoori roti or phulka or naan .