Vegetable Kurma

I wanted to recreate the vegetable kurma they serve in south indian restaurants with puri or parotta forever! I finally got to it last weekend after scouting the internet for recipes and here is the outcome. Some recipes called for cauliflower also but I stuck to the usual suspects of potato, carrot, beans and peas since that is all I had in my fridge. This is a great dish if you want to get rid of your aging staples.

Ingredients:

1. Khus khus - 2 tsps
2. Jeera - 2 tsps
3. Green cardamom - 2
4. Cloves - 3
5. Cinnamon stick - 1 inch piece
6. Ginger - 1/2 inch pieces
7. Garlic cloves - 4
8. Green chillies - 2
9. Coconut - fresh or frozen, 1/2 cup
10. Cashews - 10
11. Oil
12. Bay leaf - 1
13. Salt
14. Onion - 1 big, chopped finely
15. Carrots - 1.5 cups, cubed
16. Potato - 1 cup, cubed
17. Beans - 1 cup, chopped
18. Peas - 1 cup
19. Milk - 1 cup or cream 1/4 th cup

Directions:

1. Roast ingredients 1 through 5 and grind together with ingredients from 6 to 10 to make a fine paste.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add the bay leaf to it.
3. Once you smell the aroma of the bay leaf, add the onion and saute till golden brown.
4. Add the paste and saute till the rawness in the spices is gone.
5. Add the potato, peas, carrot, beans, salt and enough water to cover all the veggies and cook on medium heat until the water reduces to form a gravy and the veggies are thoroughly cooked.
6. Add the milk or cream and cook some more.
7. Serve hot with puri or parotta. This kurma tastes better as it ages.

Samosas

Samosa - a stuffed pastry is how wikipedia describes it. This is probably one of India's most popular and versatile dishes. Its an every occasion dish and you can see so many variations of it as you go from south to north and east to west in India. My personal favorite is the Irani samosa that you get at these Irani Cafes in Hyderabad. It is stuffed mostly with onion and sometimes a little carrot/beans. The samosa itself is a mini size and extremely crisp and flavorful. I have so many memories associated with samosa -

• This small shop in a shopping center that used to sell these small irani samosas and a fruit drink called Soma (that goes back to my first ever memories of my home and family in Hyderabad as a kid),

• Sunday evenings when this queer dude would come on his bicycle and sell hot samosas, of vendors outside my school selling samosas for 25 paise each,

• This sweet shop near my place where dad would bring samosas, pakodas and it would transform into an entire meal paired with maggie ketchup and bread,

• I had hot samosas (called singhara in north east India) in this small tea shop in Darjeeling while it was raining outside,

• The time when I first started making samosas for my hubby out of wonton wrappers during our dating days,

• The hot hot Bharat bazaar samosas my hubby would bring home on his way from work for my folks and sister when we were engaged

I can go on forever:)

This recipe is for a slightly different stuffing than the usual potato filling. It was arrived at in an effort to emulate my favorite Irani samosa but tasted nothing like it. It still tasted pretty good but my taste buds that have memory cells refused to like it. According to my hubby it was still very tasty and is worth a blog post. So here goes -


Ingredients:

1. Yellow onion - thinly sliced, 1
2. Carrot - 1, grated
3. Peas - 1/2 cup
   
4. Curry leaves - 4/5
5. Green chillies - 2, finely chopped
6. Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
7. Garam masala - 1/4th tsp
8. Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
9. Jeera-dhania powder - 1/2 tsp
10. Salt
11. Lemon juice - 1 tsp
12. Corriander leaves - 1 cup finely chopped
13. Mint leaves - 1/2 cup finely chopped
    
14. Oil - 1 tsp for the filling and a wok full for deep frying
15. Milk - 2 tsps
16. Wonton wrappers

Directions:

1. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and add the curry leaves and chopped chillies.
2. Add sliced onions and saute until well done.
3. Add ginger garlic paste and after 2 mins, add the grated carrots, peas, chilli powder, salt, jeera dhania powder, garam masala and cook until well done.
4. Add the corriander leaves, mint leaves and lemon juice and cook for 2 more mins.
5. Take a wonton wrapper and cut into half diagonally (This is for the big square wonton wrappers. You can also try the smaller ones).
6. Fill in the center with the stuffing made above and use milk to seal the corners.
7. Heat oil for deep frying and drop the samosas when hot. It only takes a min for each samosa to get done. Enjoy hot with ketchup:)
   

Egg Curry

I made this egg curry for dinner with plain rice. It was inspired by this recipe from Asha's blog Foodie's Hope.

Egg Prep:

Hard boil 8-10 eggs. Shallow fry them with 2 tbsps oil until they crisp a little on the outside. Cut 1 inch vertical slits around the egg.

Ingredients for Gravy:

1. Onions - 3 large, chopped finely
2. Tomatoes - 4 chopped finely
3. Tomato sauce - 1 can
4. Bay leaves - 2
5. Elaichi - 2
6. Cloves - 4
7. Star anise - 1
8. Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
9. Jeera Dhania powder - 1.5 tsp
   
10. Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
11. Tandoori masala - 1/2 tsp
12. Kasoori methi - 1 tsp
13. Tamarind paste - 1 tsp
14. Oil - 1 tsp
15. Green chillies - 2 slit lengthwise
16. Curry leaves - 7/8
17. Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
18. Salt
19. Water - 3 cups
20. Corriander - 1 cup chopped
    

Directions:

1. Heat the oil and add the cloves, elaichi, bay leaves, star anise, green chillies and curry leaves. Sautee until well fried.
2. Add the onions and sautee until soft, golden brown and well done.
3. Add the ginger garlic paste and cook for 1 min.
4. Add the tomatoes and cook until soft.
5. Add the tomato sauce, garam masala, tandoori masala, red chilli powder, kasoori methi, jerra dhania powder and mix well.
6. Cook until the raw taste of the masalas and tomato sauce goes away.
7. Add the water and tamarind paste and cook until you see the oil separate.
8. Add salt if required.
9. Add the fried and slit eggs and mix well. Cover with lid for 10 minutes and allow to cook and steam.
10. Garnish with chopped coriander and enjoy with hot rice.
    

Tomato Pappu

I had made this dish last night and my friend really liked it. It is a very simple Andhra dal that can be eaten hot with white rice or rotis. I didn't take a pic but will update this post with a pic next time I make it.

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups toor dal
   
2. Methi seeds - 1 tsp
3. Haldi - 1 tsp
4. Tomatoes - 3 or 4 chopped
   
5. Garlic - 3 pods chopped
   
6. Jeera dhania powder - 1/2 tsp
7. Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
8. Green chillies - 1 chopped finely
9. Dried red chillies - 2
10. Corriander leaves - a handful, finely chopped
11. Lemon juice - 1 tsp
12. Salt
13. Oil - 1 tbsp
14. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
15. Curry leaves - 8-10
16. Asafoetida - 2 pinches
    

Directions:

1. Pressure cook the toor dal with 1/2 tsp of methi seeds and 1/2 tsp of haldi until it is soft. Mash it until it is of an even consistency
2. Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds and let them sputter. Then add the garlic, curry leaves, green chillies, red chillies, remaining methi seeds and hing (in this order) and let the ingrediets fry until you can smell all the aromas.
3. Add chopped tomatoes and sautee until they are mushy and fully cooked.
4. Add the jeera dhania powder, red chilly powder, salt and dal and cook until well mixed. Add a little water if you want the dal to be runnier.
5. Top off with lemon juice and corriander before serving. The smells in the kitchen will draw everyone to it once it is done:)
   

Hyderabadi Dum Ki Biryani

No one but a hyderabadi can appreciate this nawabi style biryani. We hyderabadis rant and rave about the flavors and aromas associated with this dish and could go on and about the biryani from Paradise or Hyderabad Biryani House and talk you to death about the layers of fluffy basmati rice and spiced veggies or meat. We are so much in love with this dish not only because it is yummy but bring back memories of good old days in Hyderabad. Everytime there is a new restaurant in the bay area that promises to serve up a good version of this dish, it becomes an instant hit with this audience. This recipe is one that I arrived at over the years and is totally infallible in pleasing crowds. I won't say this is simple or easy because it needs quite a few ingredients and is a little elaborate to assemble. I practiced and perfected this with Renuka during my Master's so a lot of credit goes to her. A funny incident I remember is when I had some friends over and one of them who wasn't familiar with the whole layered biryani concept, ended up mixing it all up before serving himself and boy I made him jump out of his skin when I screamed. The best accompaniments to this biryani are mirchi ka salan and raita. I made a boondi raita to go with this and it works well too. This recipe is for a veggie version but you can always use marinated meat with a similar recipe.

Ingredients:

1. Onions - 2 finely chopped
2. Ginger paste - 1 tbsp
3. Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
4. Cauliflower - 1 small head chopped into big chunks
5. Carrot - 2 chopped into small cubes or long slices
6. Beans - 12-15 chopped into small pieces
7. Green peas - 1 cup
8. Potatoes - 2 peeled and chopped
   
9. Cloves - 5
10. Green Elaichi - 3
11. Black Elaichi - 2
12. Shahi Jeera - 1 tsp
    
13. Cinnamon stick - 1 inch
14. Whole black pepper - 1 tsp
15. Star anise - 1
16. Bay leaves - 2
17. Everest biryani/pulao - 2 tbsp
18. Jeera Dhania powder - 1 tsp
19. Chilli powder - 1 tsp
20. Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
21. Yogurt - 1 cup
    
22. Basmati rice - 3 cups
23. Water
24. Salt
25. Saffron - 1/2 tsp
26. Milk - 1/2 cup
27. Lemon - 2
28. Mint - 10 leaves
29. Vegetable oil - 3 tbsp (You can use ghee for added flavor)
    
30. Cashewnuts - 10, fried in ghee
    

Directions:

1. Mix the basmati rice with about 6 cups of water and cook it.
   
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a thick bottomed pan and sautee the potatoes, cauliflower, carrot and beans one after another until they are semi cooked and start browning on the edges. I like them charred a bit and sautee them until crispy. Remove the vegetables onto a paper napkin to soak the oil out.
   
3. Heat the rest of the oil and to it add the cinnamon, cloves, star anise, cardomom, shahi jeera, black pepper and bay leaves. Once you smell the aroma, add the onions and fry them until they are golden brown.
   
4. Add the ginger garlic paste and stir for 5 mins. Add in the vegetables and peas, biryani masala, salt, jeera dhania powder, red chilli powder, turmeric and mix it all up. Once the masalas are blended, add the yogurt and mix it in. Place the lid on the pan and cook the veggies until they soften a little. Do not cook them until they are mushy. We still want a little crunch to them.

5.Turn off the gas and add the chopped mint leaves to the veggies.

6. Microwave the saffron for 15 seconds and add the milk to it. Make sure the strands all dissolve in the milk to give it a nice yellow/orange color.

7. Now start layering the rice and veggies in either a rice cooked or an oven friendly tray - alternate one layer of rice with a layer of the veggie gravy and top each rice layer with a couple of spoons of the saffron milk. This is a painstaking but very rewarding step. Shown in the pic below -




8. If using a rice cooker just set the rice to cook again and since it is already warm it will finish up in 10-15 mins. If using the oven, cover the tray/dish with aluminum foil and steam for 20 mins at 300.



9. Before serving, squeeze the lemon juice over the top and garnish with some chopped mint and the fried cashews. This dish tastes even better the next day.

Bagara Baingan - Hyderabad Isshhtyle

Bagara Baingan is this amazing dish that will turn you into an eggplant lover. This is a very typical hyderabadi dish often served with Biryani or just plan white rice. With a rich gravy made of peanuts and sesame seeds, it gets tastier the day after it is made. So here goes -

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup peanuts
2. 1/4th cup sesame seeds
3. 2 spoons poppy seeds
4. 3-4 cloves
5. 1/2 inch long piece of cinnamon (This is optional and won't make much difference)
6. 2 inch piece of ginger
7. 2-3 garlic pods
8. half cup fresh grated or frozen coconut
9. 1 spoon chilli powder
10. 2 pinches of turmeric
11. 10-12 small eggplants
12. a small ball of tamarind soaked and pulped
13. mustard and jeera seeds for the tadka
14. 4-5 long green chillies
15. 5-6 curry leaves
16. 2 large onions - finely chopped
17. salt to taste
18. corriander
19. vegetable oil - 2 tablespoons
    

Directions:

1. Roast the peanuts, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, cloves and cinnamon separately.
2. Grind them along with the coconut, chilli powder, haldi, salt, ginger and garlic to a fine paste
3. Cut slits in the eggplants, making a cross on the top. Stuff them with the paste. Make sure you have 2-3 tablespoons of paste left over after stuffing
4. Heat oil and add mustard seeds, jeera, green chillies (cut lengthwise), curry leaves. Once the mustard seeds start sputtering, add onions and saute until golden brown
5. Add the stuffed eggplants and saute until the skin of the eggplants changes color a little
6. Add the remaining paste, a little water, the tamarind pulp and mix well
7. Cook for 20-25mins with the lid covered until you no longer can smell/taste raw peanuts, the eggplants are cooked thoroughly and the you have a good consistency gravy.
8. Top off with chopped corriander and enjoy!!!