Cook With Me: Easy Peasy Gatte Ki Sabzi (Chickpea Ball Curry)

Hi Everyone!

I have not put up a recipe post in a long while. I tried out gatte ki sabzi the other day. It came out pretty yum. And the husband was happy! So I thought of sharing this recipe with you. Its a dish from Rajasthan. Since Rajasthan is largely a desert, many of its dishes do not incorporate a lot of vegetables. So when you find yourself short of fresh veggies, try this out.

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

1. Besan or Chickpea Flour: 1 cup
2. Salt: a pinch
3. Carom seeds: a pinch, crushed between your palms to release its aroma
4. Baking soda: 1/4th tsp
5. Sour Curd: 2 tbsp
6. Water: a tsp or 2 to soften the dough

For The Gravy:

1. Grated Onion: 1 large
2. Grated Garlic: 3-4 cloves
3. Grated Ginger: Half tsp
4. Grated Tomato: 1 medium
5. Turmeric: Half tsp
6. Chilli Powder: Half tsp
7. Kasoori Methi or Dried Fenugreek leaves: 1 big pinch
8. Sour Curd: Half Cup beaten to remove all lumps
9. Salt to taste.
10. Torn Mint leaves for garnish

Method: 

1. Take ingredients 1-4 and mix the dry products. Then add the sour curd and knead the mixture into a soft dough. Add some water if needed. The feel of the dough should be like that of roti/chapati dough.

2. Rub a few drops of oil on your palms to prevent the dough from sticking to       your hands. Divide the dough into four parts.

3. Take each part and roll it out to form thick fingers, about 1/2 an inch in             diameter.

4. Cut them into half inch pieces

5. Boil about 1 litre water in a pan. When the water is boiling, drop the Chickpea     balls carefully into the water. Simmer for about 10-12 minutes.

                        

6. In the meantime, heat 2 tbsp oil in a skillet and fry the onions, ginger and         garlic till they begin to turn brown

7. Add the tomato, turmeric,  red chilli powder and salt and saute till it begins to     leave oil on the sides of the skillet.

8. Now gradually add the sour curd and keep stirring the mixture or else it will      curdle. Add the Kasoori Methi/ dried fenugreek leaves.

9. When the gravy comes to a boil,add the boiled chickpea balls into this gravy.     Simmer for 10 minutes.

10. Remove from fire, por out into a serving dish, garnish with mint leaves.

11. Serve with steamed rice or roti.

Bon Appetit! 

Shuchi's Colours (Cook With Me): Arty Salad

Hello Everyone!

Winter brings a lot of colourful vegetables to our table. So as winter is preparing to bid us goodbye, lets quickly rustle up a really easy to make. It is not only packed with nutrients, but it it really tasty too!!

So let's dive straight in...

Ingredients:
1.  Apple chopped into sticks
2.  Boiled beetroot ,
3. Chopped tomatoes 

4. Cottage cheese chopped into sticks

5. Broccoli, baby corn, french beans and carrots chopped and par boiled.

6. Dry fruits as in almonds, walnut and cashew nuts

7. Juice of half a lemon, 
8.  Salt, 
9.  Pepper 

10. Honey 

11. lots of love . 💕. 

Method:

1.  Mix lemon , salt , pepper and honey in par boiled vegetables, toss in tomatoes,apple, beetroot and cottage cheese. 
2.  Add dry fruit nuts. 
3.  Ready to eat , tastes better cooled.

Bon Appetit! 

About The Author

Shuchi Khanna is a well known name on the Indian art scene. She has exhibited her paintings in an number of galleries including the Rashtrapati Bhawan. She has won numerous awards, yet remains a warm and friendly person, with great enthusiasm for life! She is a great cook too. You can view her paintings on her website: www.shuchikhanna.com 

Cook With Me: Easy Peasy Lemon Chicken with Mushrooms

Hi Everyone!

I was looking over my blogs list, and realised that I had not done a recipe post in a while. I absolutely love chicken and any experimental cooking that I do usually involves, well, chicken!

So here is another one. The Husband bought some mushrooms on the way back home and I had some chicken in the freezer. So I started putting this and that together. Fortunately I remembered to click a few photos along the way.

The end result.... some finger licking and clean plates!

Ingredients:

1. 500-600 gms of chicken on the bone (give better and richer flavour than boneless)
2. 1 medium sized onion, chopped
3. 5-6 cloves of garlic,pealed and crushed
4. Garlic an Inch and a half knob, crushed
5. Juice of half a lemon
6. Some Rosemary or any herbs that you would like to use (I had this at home)
7. Black pepper crushed about a teaspoon
8. Any creamy dressing, I had this honey mustard one.

For the Sauce: 

1. 250 gms of button mushrooms, thickly sliced
2. 1 teaspoon olive oil (or any of your choice)
3. 1 cup milk
4. 3 tablespoons of wheat flour
5. Salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash the chicken well.
2. Put it in a pressure cooker with a cup of water, ginger, garlic and onions. Keep the burner flame high till the first whistle. Then reduce to simmer for the next 5 minutes.
3. While the chicken is in the cooker, heat 1 teaspoon for olive oil, and sear the sliced mushrooms on a high flame.
   
4. Lower the heat and add a cup of milk and wheat flour and stir till all the lumps disappear.
5. Increase heat and bring to a boil,reduce heat when the sauce  begins to thicken.
6. Add the boiled chicken to this sauce and add salt to taste.
   
7. Add rosemary, crushed black pepper and the dressing to this sauce. Simmer for about 5 minutes. turn off the heat.
8. Add the lemon juice after 5 minutes.
9. Serve hot with pasta or bread.

Note: You may add colourful vegetables like broccoli, bell peppers of different colours add a greater nutritional punch! 

Bon Apetit!

Devjani's Corner (Cook with Me): Gilki or Tori (Ridge Gourd) the Malawi Way

Hello Everyone!


The malawis (of Madhya Pradesh) are mainly vegetarians .. But not boring. In fact they do interesting things to boring vegetables.

 This recipe is from Rajani's kitchen in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. Rajani, a Malawi is a hard core vegetarian and her husband a strict  Mathur nonvegetarian..... So their dinner table is always an exciting blend of different cuisines. More about the Mathur meat cuisines later... Today it is back to the humble tori.
It's got a fun name there... Gilki

Gilki or tori the Malawi way

Ingredients:

1. Tori 1/2 kg scraped, slit    
    
   
2. Dhania/Coriander powder
3. Jeera/Cumin powder, 
4. Haldi/Turmeric Powder,
5. Salt, 
6. Amchoor/Mango powder
7. Red chilli powder All to taste 
8. Hing/asafoetida  and jeera/cumin seeds for tempering in one tablespoon of oil
9. 1/2cup roasted coarsely ground peanuts 
   

Method
1. Mix all powders and fill the tori. 

2. Then chop them to one inch pieces.

3. In hot oil put hing/asafoetida, jeera/cumin seeds allow it to splutter for 1/2 a minute
4. Add the vegetables.
5. If the tori is fresh it will release a lot of water to cook in it. However if they are not so fresh a few sprinkling of water may be required. 
6. Cover and cook . 

7. When done add the peanuts and serve hot.

Bon Appetite!

Cook With Me: Easy Peasy Prawns in Hot and Sweet Ginger-Garlic Sauce

Hi Everyone!

Prawns are a hot favourite among a large number of communities a round the world. So you will find thousands of traditional and modern recipes for prawns. I had been trying out some Indian variants in the last few months with curry leaves, dessicated coconut, just coconut milk or some spice mix. 

This time I decided to just go without pre-planning and see what turns up! I don't boast of brilliant culinary skills, but the prawns turned up quite nice and we had no left overs!

What you will need:

1. Meduim Sized prawns: 500 gms
2. Whole egg: 1
3. Bread crumbs: about 4 table spoons
4. Onions: 1 medium, chopped
5. Ginger-Garlic paste: 2 tsp
6. Green Chillly Sauce: 1 tbsp
7. Tomato Ketchup: 2 tbsp
8. Black pepper: to taste
9. Salt: to taste
10. Oil

Method:

1. Wash and clean the prawns and pat dry.

2. Beat the eggs with some salt and black pepper and let the prawns rest in this marinade for about 15 minutes.

3. Heat oil in a pan/wok
4. Roll each prawn in the bread crumbs and fry them till golden.

5. In the left over oil, add the ginger garlic paste and saute for 30 secs.

6. Add the chopped onions and saute till they begin to change colour

7. Add the chilly sauce and tomato ketchup. Add a bit of water at this point.

8. Add some salt if you wish.

9. Add the fried prawns and simmer the sauce for about 5-7 mins.

10. Serve hot with steamed rice.

11. See your family polish it off their plates!

Think and Stay Beautiful!

Cook With Me: Easy Peasy Lal Maas (Red Meat)

Hey Everyone!

In the recent days Delhi has been colder than Shimla and even London! So, on one such cold, cold evening I tried out Lal Maas. I had written down this recipe from a friend. And its really easy! And as my regular readers know, I love easy recipes!

So here goes.............

Warning: Its quite hot/spicy for those who aren't used to this kind of taste.

Ingredients:

1. 500g of mutton or lamb cut in cubes.
2. 5-6 dry red chillies, or if you want it easier, 2 tbsp of red chilli powder.
3. 3 medium onions chopped finely
4. 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste.
5. 1 tsp Garam Masala powder.
6. 1 and a 1/2 cups of curd/yogurt, hand-beaten to remove lumps.
7. Fresh coriander leaves chopped.


Method:

1. Dry roast the whole/powdered red chillies till it changes colour and releases its fragrance. If you've used whole red chillies, remove the seeds and blitz them in the dry grinder. Put it in a clean, dry bottle.
2. Heat some oil and fry the washed and pat dried mutton/lamb to seal it. Remove from fire.

3. In the same oil fry onions and ginger garlic paste till translucent.

4. Add the sealed off mutton/lamb. Fry till it begins to change colour.
5. Add the beaten curd/yogurt and cook till the oil begins to separate. Stir occasionally.

6. Add 2 tbsp of the roasted chilli powder and garam masala and give it a good stir.

7. Cook it on low flame for about 2 whistles in the pressure cooker.
8. Sprinkle some chopped coriander and serve hot with steamed rice, roti or some toasted bread.

 Bon Apetit!

Cook With Me: Pepper Prawns with Curry Leaves

Hey Everyone!

Its been a while since I have posted a food post, so today I am going to share with you a recipe that happened quite by accident.

The husband, after some nagging on my part brought in some 


So I wondered how I should prepare them. I did not want to do the regular  Chinese style or the bengali style dish........

So this is what I did:

cleaned and deveined 500g of:

Prawns

1 teaspoon pepper powder

Crushed pepper corns

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon turmeric powder

Mix all of these ingredients and keep aside.

Marinated Prawns

I then heated some oil in a wok and fried the prawns till golden.

Fry prawns

In the same oil I threw in a sprig or two of curry leaves


 along with finely chopped onions and 1/2 a tsp of ginger garlic paste.

Once the onions are browned, I added 1/2 a tsp of turmeric, 1 tsp of coriander powder, 1/2 tsp of chilli powder, 1/2 tsp of crushed black pepper and salt to taste.

I wanted to add tomatoes, but realised I had run out. It was too late in the evening so I just added a dash of tomato ketchup.

Once the spices were done, I threw in the fried prawns and folded them in. Since the gravy looked too dry, I added half a cup of water and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.

This is what it looked like just before serving...

I couldn't get a picture of what the final dish looked like since the husband had already claimed the wok for himself!!

 The curry leaves gave the dish such a different dimension! 

Why don't you try it too and let me know.................