This is a very regular recipe with our moms. Hubbo really likes it, but I am not a big fan for regular eating. I just like to have it occasionally and that too after crushing 1-2 green chillies in it just before eating. Ah ! The smell of green chilli with this, heavenly :)
You can add green peas to it, but I made this with avarekalu today. Green peas give a nice fresh colour boost to it.
Getting Ready :
Cabbage - 100 gms
Avarekalu (Hyacinth Beans) - 20 gms
Potato- 1 medium
Onion - 1 medium
Tomato- 1 small
Garlic- 5-6 cloves
Black pepper- 5-6
Zeera(cumin seeds) - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil- 2 tbsps
Coriander leaves for garnish
Salt - To Taste
Water- 1/3 cup
Lighting the stove :
Chop the cabbage in thin strips. Peel the potato and chop them.
Pressure cook the cabbage, potato and avarekalu in a pressure cooker with salt, water and turmeric powder for 1-2 whistles.
Now, roughly chop the onion, peel the garlic, and pulse(roughly grind) them along with black pepper and zeera.
Heat oil, add the rough paste, fry till they turn pinkish brown, now add chilli powder and chopped tomatoes.
Splash some water and cook covered till tomatoes turn mushy.
Add the boiled cabbage, potatoes and avarekalu. Mix well till water is dried up.
Now, sprinkle coriander leaves and mix well.
It cooks very quickly and makes for a great curry or side dish with either chapati or rice. As I said, it's a regular in normal households.
Source: Ma's cooking
Chhena, or curdled milk is something each one of us has seen in the kitchen, when the milk has not boiled properly, or curdles due to some other reasons. Usually, it is considered as spoilt milk, but, it is very healthy and proteinaceous like paneer. This recipe uses up that curdled milk into yummy lip-smacking curry. You will love the taste, especially when the chhena ball melts in your mouth and leave you craving for more. It can be made into many curries, but I will first post the basic, healthy version of it. I learnt it first from my school friend. Rosy! A BIG SHOUTOUT to you, THANKS A TON for this recipe. The entire credit of this recipe goes to you.
Ingredients:
Chhena/Curdled milk - 2 cups ( For 2-3 people)
Maida- 3 tsp
Baking powder- Half tsp
Potato- 1 medium
Onion- 2 medium
Ginger-garlic paste- Half tsp
Tomato - 1 medium or 2 small
Refined oil- For deep frying
Mustard or refined oil- 2 tbsp (For cooking)
Curry powder- 1 tsp
Chilli powder- Half tsp
Turmeric powder- Half tsp
water- 1 cup
Lighting the stove:
Take about 2 cups of chhena and let all the water drain out of it.
Now, add around 3 tsps of maida and half tsp of baking powder to it and mix well.
Make small balls from it and deep fry them. If the balls break in oil, it means it needs a little more maida. Take them out when they are golden and slightly brown.
Also fry a few potatoes and keep them with the chhena balls.
Now, heat oil in a kardhai and fry thinly sliced onions for 1-2 mins.
Add ginger-garlic paste and fry till onions are golden brown.
Add curry powder, turmeric powder, and chilli powder and mix well.
Add the chopped tomatoes and 2 tbsps of water and cook till tomatoes turn mushy.
Fry for 1-2 mins more and add the fried chhena balls and potatoes.
Mix well and fry for 1 min. Then, pour 1 cup of water.
Cook covered for 1-2 min and sprinkle coriander leaves.
Serve hot with rice, phulka, paratha or zeera rice.
Sorry guys, I don't have all the photos with me now. I promise to update them soon.
Parwal or pointed gourd has always been my favourite. Though it is not much available in Bangalore, I try to get it from some place or the other.
I have tried many recipes for this but had not been able to get a hold of it yet. It always turned out under-boiled or dry or watery, except one recipe that my Mom makes which is too oily, hence, I don't make it often. But, this is perfect. I learnt it from my sister-in-law when we visited her recently, though her version was too healthy with minimum oil and no curry powder or chilli powder. I just modified it to suit my taste.
What we need:
Parwal- 250 gms
Potatoes- 2 medium
Onion- 1 large or 2 medium
Tomatoes- 2 small or 1 medium
Ginger garlic paste- 1 tbsp
Oil
Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
Salt-To taste
Coriander powder or curry powder- 1.5 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Lighting The Stove:
Scratch the parwals(don't peel completely), just rub out the outer dark green layer. U can do this with a peeler or knife, and then wash them and cut the two ends.
Cut into thin slices. Cut potatoes also in same style(long and medium thin).
Heat oil in a kardhai, add the parwals and potatoes, salt and turmeric powder. Mix well and let it fry for 1 min.
Then, add half a cup of water and cover it. This helps to boil the parwals perfectly.
Keep stirring in between and cook till done.
Heat 3 tbsp of oil, add the sliced onions and fry till golden. ( Can use any oil, mustard oil gives better flavour)
Add 1 tbsp of ginger-garlic paste. Mix well and fry for 1 more min.
Add coriander powder and chilli powder, mix well and add tomatoes.
Mix nicely, add 1/4 cup of water and cook till tomatoes turn mushy.
Add all the fried vegetables and mix well with the masala. At this point, u can take it out and serve or u can do what I did.
Add half a cup of water and cook covered for 2 min.
Finally, sprinkle chopped corainder leaves and garam masala. It's ready to serve.
Very simple, but tasty curry. Tastes best with chapati, paratha or rice. Worth cooking again and again for daily food.
Raw jackfruit, the summer vegetable has been one of my favourite vegetable since childhood. After leaving home for studies, I almost never tasted it around 4-5 years. When I had my own kitchen where I could cook anything without questions, it was great joy for me. But I never had the courage to try jackfruit, specially because I didn't know how to cook it as well as cutting it involves a little hassle. My Mom was never confident enough that her little daughter would actually be able to cut a jackfruit and cook it. She always asks me to visit her in summer so that she can cook it for me. But, since it is not available after this month, I finally decided to buy it and also insisted my Mom to give me the recipe. Reluctantly, she agreed and hence, here is the recipe.
Cutting it is a issue because of its sticky secretion. But I didn't have to face that since I rubbed a lot of mustard oil on my palms before cutting. It totally solved the problem.
What we need:
800 gms raw jackfruit
2 medium sized potatoes
3 large onions
3- 4 large tomatoes
1 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 cardamom
1 stick of cinnamon
5-6 whole black pepper corns
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste or else 4-5 cloves of garlic and 1 inch ginger
1 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
3 tbsp coconut milk (can skip it)
Salt as per taste
Lighting the stove:
Cut the jackfruit and potatoes into small pieces leaving out a very thick peel.
Fry jackfruit and potatoes in mustard oil in a pressure cooker and then add a cup of water, salt and turmeric powder and cook for 1 whistle.
Now, grind ginger, garlic, cumin seeds, half of cardamom, half of cinnamon and black pepper first and add onions to it and grind roughly again. It should not turn into a paste, I used to incher option on my grinder to get this.
Then, heat oil in a kardhai and add the ground paste to it.
Fry till onions are golden brown. Add garam masala powder and chilli powder.
Add chopped tomatoes and cook till oil oozes out.
Remove the water from the pressure cooker and add the boiled jackfruit and potatoes and mix nicely. Preserve the water for next step.
Let it fry on medium heat for sometime so that the masalas get mixed nicely.
Add the water removed from boiling and cook on high heat for 2mins.
Now add the coconut milk and mix lightly. Cook on high heat for 2-3 mins more.
The water will get dried up.Crush cinnamon and cardamom with 1 tsp of water and add to the curry.
Cover it and leave for 5 min and then it is ready to serve.
It's an awesome traditional dish with jackfruit which tastes good with anything but best as a side dish with rice and dal.
