Hyderabadi Style: Mirch ka salan

This morning when I went shopping for some fresh veggies my eyes fell on this luscious green long chillies, not the regular short, small spicy one but the longer and fatter version of green chillies. I bought some thinking I would make my hubi a Mirch ka salan with rotis for tonight's dinner since he loves spices so much.....

So here it goes.....the process is quite simple but it involves a lot of ingredients to make it nice and spicy.... 

Things you need for the gravy: 200 gms long green chillies, 1 tsp jeera, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds, 1/4 tsp nigella seeds , 6 curry leaves , 1/4 tsp turmeric powder , 2 tbsp coriander-cumin seeds (dhania-jeera) powder, 2 tsp chilli powder, 4 tbsp tamarind water, 2 tbsp chopped corriander, 5 tbsp oil, salt to taste

To be ground into a paste: 6 cloves of garlic, 12 mm. (1/2") piece ginger, 1 onion, 2 tomatoes, 3 tbsp grated coconut

For the dry powder: 2 tbsp roasted peanuts, 2 tbsp sesame seeds, 1 tbsp cumin seeds 

How to do it:

For the dry powder:  Roast the peanuts, sesame seeds and cumin seeds lightly. Remove and powder.

For the gravy: Heat the oil in a kadai. Wash and slit the green chillies. Remove the seeds and fry in hot oil until they turn white. Remove. In the same oil, add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, nigella seeds and curry leaves. Cook until the seeds crackle. Add the paste of onions and tomatoes and fry for a while. Add the turmeric and coriander-cumin seed powder, chilli powder and dry powder masala. Cook for a few minutes until the oil comes on the top. Add 2 cups of water and the tamarind water and cook until thick. Add the fried green chillies, coriander and salt and cook for a few minutes. The gravy should be thick. Serve hot.

 

 

 Note: This dish doesnt work good with green capsicum or bell peppers.....

Punjab to China: Chilli Paneer

Paneer or cottage cheese is a integral part of the North Indian cuisine, specially Punjab. It has been here since God knows when. China being just a few stones away from the Northern part of our country has had their influence in our recipes bringing out these wonderful Indian recipes with a Chinese twist to it making it saucy and different. 

Of all the Paneer recipes I have already posted, Chilly Paneer is one of the most popular even amongst kids. This dish is heavily influenced by its non-vegetarian cousin, the Chilly chicken. It came into origin to satisfy the palette of the vegetarians. Since I love cooking and always wanted to try out the recipes restaurants make, I looked through the recipes and I was flummoxed to find so many recipes of Chilly Paneer. I tried some of them, and found this recipe the most appealing and easy. 

Things you need are: 400 gm Paneer, 8 tbsp Corn flour, 4 tbsp Oil, 4 Onions, 6-8 cloves Garlic, 6-8 Green chilly, 2 large Capsicum, 1 cup Vegetable stock, Salt to taste
1 tsp White pepper powder, 4 tbsp Soy sauce, 1/2 tsp Ajinomoto, 2 tbsp Chilly sauce

Preparation:

Drain Paneer and chop into medium bite sized pieces. Heat sufficient oil in a wok, roll the Paneer pieces in corn flour and deep fry them on medium heat till the edges turn golden brown. Set them aside on a tissue to drain.

Blend remaining corn flour in quarter cup of water and set aside. Chop the onions into thick slices and crush the garlic cloves. Chop green chillies and cut the capsicum into thick stripes and set them aside.

Heat two-tablespoon of oil in a pan, add crushed garlic and then stir-fry till golden and then add green chillies, onion and capsicum and sauté for some time till onions look translucent. Then add the fried paneer pieces and stir in the vegetable stock. Season with salt, pepper, soy sauce, chilli sauce, Ajinomoto and blended corn flour and keep stirring all the while cooking on high heat until sauce thickens and coats the Paneer pieces. Chilly Paneer is ready to serve. Serve hot with Fried rice or nice stir fried noodles.

Check this wonderful Brinjal in a tangy gravy

My Paruppu Usuli recipe from last week post brought back wonderful lip smacking memories from my amma’s kitchen. The unbeatable aroma of the good old Ennai Kathirikai Kozhambu (means just the simple Brinjal in tangy gravy). Just the mere mention of the name always kindles my taste buds. This post is an effort to let my amma’s divine recipe reach the whole world! 

If you have time on your hands and are craving some homemade meal, like what your mom/grandmom would have made if she were with you, then this one's for you. I made it on a Saturday morning and it lasted till Tuesday the next week. I had it with rice, dosa, chappathis, more rice and more dosas! I am also planning to make this when my amma visits me. She is going to be so impressed. 

Brinjal sometimes brings out horrible memories for some people out there, so I thought I should just Google up the word Brinjal and I found these amazing facts about the King of vegetables; at least that is what I remember Brinjal being called from my childhood. They are low in saturated fat, sodium and cholesterol, high in dietary fibre and loads of vitamins and minerals. But what is different about this. Most vegetables are, but the important part is it is an excellent food in weight loss, being low in calories and fat.

Before you guys think this is no longer a food blog and leave the page, I will move on to the recipe of the day; an authentic Tamil Nadu Kozhambu recipe. Make sure you pick out nice and small Brinjal of more or less similar size. The rest of the things you need for this recipe are readily available in the nearest supermarket.

The things you need for this Kozhambu is

8-10 small aubergines , A lime-sized ball tamarind,  1/4 cup sesame/gingely oil/til oil, 1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp powdered jaggery/sugar, small onion chopped, rice flour 1 to 2 teaspoons

For the spice powder, the things you need are;

1 tbsp oil, 2 tbsp coriander seeds, 1 tsp hing/asafoetida, 1 tbsp Sesame seeds, 8 dried red chillies, 2 tbsp chana dal, 2 tbsp toor dal, 2 tbsp urad dal, 1 small coconut grated, 1 tsp salt

For tempering of the Kozhambu you need;

1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1 dry red chilli, 1 sprig curry leaves

The process to make this awesome tangy and spicy Kozhambu is sometimes is a bit overwhelming for laid back person like myself but is not a difficult recipe. There is a bit of roasting and grinding and soaking and frying to be done. My grandma would have said "these days’ girls have it easy, you have the blender!" She is of course right! So let’s get started.

Make crisscross cuts in the Brinjal and leave them in water until cooking. Soak tamarind in warm water for 20 minutes and extract thick milk from it. Set this aside. Heat oil in a handi or wok, add garlic and fry until fragrant. Then add onions and fry them until golden brown. Stir in tomatoes and continue cooking. Cover and cook for few minutes until the tomatoes turn pulpy and oil starts to leave the sides. Now fry the Brinjal till cooked through and semi soft. Meanwhile heat few teaspoons of oil in a kadai and add all ingredients except salt. Fry till spices are fragrant and dals and coconut have turned golden brown. Remove from heat, mix in salt and grind to a coarse powder. When the Brinjal are done and gravy thickens add this coarse powder. Bring this to boil once or twice and transfer to a serving bowl. To a wok, heat oil and then add the spices for tempering. When the mustard seeds start popping pour this over the Kozhambu recipe for a nice seasoning. Serve with anything you like rotis, rice, pongal or dosas.

Note: This kuzhambu keeps well for up to 4 days at room temperature. Make sure that you bring to boil each time before serving. It tastes best the day after it is made. I love it with dosa!

                                                     
For all of you who don’t like Brinjal for any reason, please try this wonderful tangy recipe once and you would forget why you ever disliked this vegetable. And all the rest of you please try this recipe and give your valuable comments.

Kanjivaram idli- South Indian bun cake

Brought up in a South Indian family, Idli was and is our hot favourite, tasted divine specially with the sambhar and chutney our mom made. Me and my sister would always go for idli any day over pizza or pasta. When we were much younger we always called this Cake idli. So I started trying my hand  on making this Kanjivaram Idli my mom made with such ease. My better half loves to eat home cooked food and try new cuisines and his knowledge of idli is the simple Idli. Kanjivaram idli is something new and out of this world name for him. So following my mom's footsteps, I made the idli using the same process my mom always did remembering from watching her whilst sitting on the kitchen counter while she cooked.

The procedure she used was simple and time tested, so there is nothing to worry but just start cooking even if you are an amateur cook.

Things you need are ready available in all supermarkets.

1 cup Rice  1 cup Urad Dal  1/2 tsp Pepper  1/2 tsp Jeera  1/2 cup Coconut  2 tbsp Oil  1/2 tsp Channa Dal  A pinch of Asafoetida  A pinch of Turmeric  3/4 tsp Salt  Green Chilli  1/2 inch Ginger  A few Curry leaves

Just follow this procedure step by step and you are sure to get the best soft white fluffy idlis in town.

Soak the rice and urad dal in water for a few hours. Then, wash and grind into a coarse batter adding enough water. Keep it to ferment overnight. The next morning, heat oil in a pan and add the rest of the ingredients, fry a bit, and then mix into the batter along with required salt. The batter should be thick. After that, steam in idli moulds or greased plate for almost 10-20 minutes. But i would strongly recommend big plates for steaming as it is awesome to cut into the idli just like a cake. Serve hot with tomato Chutney or homemade sambhar. Hope some of you try this South Indian delicacy and let me know if it tasted as good as it always did.

Chilli onion rings

½ cup butter milk or milk

2 fresh red chillies, seeded and chopped

2 large onions cut into rings 5 mm thick

2 cups flour

Vegetable oil for deep frying

2 teaspoons chilli sauce

Place milk and chillies in a blender for 30 seconds. Transfer to a bowl, add onion rings and toss to coat with milk mixture. Sift flour into a large bowl. Using a slotted spoon, remove onion rings from milk mixture, drain, add to bowl and coat onion rings in flour. Heat oil in a large saucepan until a cube of bread dropped in browns in 50 seconds. Add a few onion rings at a time and cook for 2-3 minutes until golden and crisp. Drain on paper and serve immediately with sauce.

Vegetarian chilli

2 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 onions cut into eighths

3 cloves garlic, crushed

2 carrots, sliced

1 red pepper, chopped

1 green pepper chopped

250 g pumpkin, diced

2 teaspoons chilli paste

1 teaspoons dried oregano

2 teaspoons ground cumin

4 tomatoes, cut into eighths

3 tablespoons tomato paste

½ cup tomato sauce

2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 cups vegetable stock or water

2 X 440 g canned red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

250 g green beans, cut into 2.5 cm lengths

25 0 g baby squash, quartered

4 zucchini (courgettes), sliced

Freshly ground black pepper

2 avocados, halved, stoned and peeled

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 cup sour cream or yoghurt

Heat oil in a large saucepan, add onions and garlic and coo or 5 minutes until onions are soft. Add carrots, red and green pepper and pumpkin and cook for 5 minutes longer. Stir in chilli paste, oregano, cumin, tomatoes, tomato puree, tomato sauce, stock, red kidney beans and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 2 5 minutes until vegetables are almost tender. Add green bean, squash and zucchini and cook for 10 minutes longer until all vegetables are tender. Season to taste with black pepper. Place avocados, lemon juice and black pepper to taste in a bowl and mash. Serve avocado mixture and sour cream with the dish.