Quick Gobi (Cauliflower) Manchurian

Of the many cuisines I have tried so far, the one cuisine that has a special place in my heart is Indian Chinese a.k.a. Chindian. The food that for many years passed off as Chinese food in India. The chowmein from the roadside seller to the exotic(!) veg Munchurian with gravy, we have all had it at some point or another and we have liked it too. The Chinese may not recognise it but us desis do and sometimes that is all that matters.

So when I picked up a cauliflower in an attempt to include more vegetables in my daily diet, the only thing that popped in my head was to make some really quick Gobi (Cauliflower) manchurian, which teamed perfectly with the winter chill. And all it took was 20 mins. Here's how it goes, lazy cooks:  

For Florets
1 medium size cauliflower, broken into medium sized florets
1/2 cup corn flour
5 tablespoons all purpose flour (maida)
1/2 teaspoon garlic paste
1/2 teaspoon ginger paste
Oil, for deep frying
Salt to taste
Approximately 1/2 cup water

For the Sauce
1½ teaspoons garlic paste
2 teaspoons ginger paste
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 small green capsicum, finely chopped
1½ tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon chilli sauce
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup or tomato sauce
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons spring onion, finely chopped (for garnishing, optional)
Salt as per taste

Method
For the florets
1. Boil the florets in salted water for 4 mins, drain water and set aside
2. In a bowl, mix all purpose flour, corn flour, ginger paste, garlic paste and salt. Add water little by little and stir to make a batter. the thickness of the batter should be similar to thickness of dosa batter. Add all florets in batter and mix well. Ensure that the batter coats the florets evenly.
3. Heat oil in pan over medium flame and deep fry the florets in small batches of 6 to 8 till they turn golden brown. Drain and transfer the deep fried florets to plate with paper napkin on it to soak excess oil.

For the sauce
1. Heat 2-tablespoons of oil in a wide, thin-bottomed pan or wok on medium flame. Add ginger paste, garlic paste, chopped green chillies, chopped capsicum and chopped onion.
2. Sauté them on high flame for 3-4 minutes to eliminate the raw flavour of ginger and garlic.
3. Add soy sauce, tomato ketchup, chilli sauce and salt. Stir continuous and cook for a minute
4. Toss in the deep fried florets and mix all ingredients (florets and the sauce) on high flame for a minute.

Voila! it's ready to be plated and served hot with a generous sprinkling of finely chopped spring onions. 

Paniyarama with Spicy Tomato-Onion Chutney

I may have found a good way to cook good food, watch my calories and earn good karma (and make friends) in the process. Cook and feed others.

With this recently found wisdom, I decided to share my very first set of paniyaram and super-quick tomato-onion chutney that I learnt from my mom.

The chutney is spicy and goes well with Idlis, Dosas, utthappams and, of course, paniyarams. Lets start with the recipe for chutney first, shall we?

Tomato - onion Chutney

Ingredients
   1. Tomatoes -3
   2. Onions -2
   3. Red chilli Powder - 0.5 tablespoon (I used Tikhalal; adjust spice as per taste and variety of chilli powder used. It is recommended that you keep spicy level up since tomato and lemon will balance the heat well at the end.)
   Optional: Mint or Coriander leaves - few or 1 tbsp finely chopped (I didn't use either this time)
   4. Oil - 2 tsp + 1 tbsp
   5. salt - 1/4 tsp or as per taste

   For the seasoning
   1. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
   2. Optional:  Urad dal - 1/2 tsp (I didn't use it this time since I wasn't looking for the crunch)
   3. Curry leaves - few tender ones
   4. Lemon - Juice of half lemon

Method

  1. Slice onions and tomatoes and keep aside

  2 . Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan,add onions and saute until onions turn transparent.
  3. Add chilli powder and mix well with onions till it is well-coated with chilli powder. This should   take about 30 seconds. 

  4. Add tomatoes, mint/coriander leaves (if using), add salt and cook until tomatoes become slightly mushy.

  5. Allow the mixture to cool. Once it cools, grind to smooth paste
  6. Heat 1 tbsp of oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add urad dal (if using) and curry leaves.
  7. add to the ground paste, add lemon juice and mix

Note -  The chutney can be refrigerated and used for up to 2 days.

Paniyaram

Ingredients

   1. Idli batter - 2 cups

   For the seasoning
   1. Oil -3 tsp
   2. Mustard seeds -1 tsp
   3. Urad dal -1/2 tsp
   4. Onion - 1
   5. Green chilli -1 finely chopped
   6. Ginger -1 inch piece - finely chopped
   7. Curry leaves - few tender ones
   8. Coriander leaves - few finely chopped
   9. Salt to taste

 
Method 

1. Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add urad dal. When dal turns golden brown, add finely chopped onions, ginger, green chilli and curry leaves.

2. Saute till onions turn pink, add needed salt and coriander leaves. Let it cool a little.

3. Now mix the above with the idly batter. Our paniyaram batter is ready!

4. Heat a paniyaram pan, add 2-3 drops of oil in each hole and pour a tbsp of batter in each hole.

5. Keep the heat on medium low and close the pan. Once the edges turn golden brown, flip over the paniyaram to the other side using a stainless steel rod or spoon.

6. Cook the other side also until golden brown. Remove from pan using a rod or spoon and serve hot with the tomato-onion chutney (or any spicy chutney and/or sambhar).

Mint and Coriander chutney

Ingredients (measuring cup used, 1 cup = 250 ml)

• 1 cup fresh chopped mint leaves/pudina
• 1 cup fresh chopped coriander/cilantro leaves
• 2 green chilli (use only 1 chilly if you want the chutney less spicy)
• ½ inch ginger
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp cumin powder - optional (jeera powder)
• 2 tbsp lemon juice - optional
• salt or black salt or rock salt to taste

Process

1. In a blender grind all the above ingredients to a smooth paste using little water.
2. Keep the Mint Coriander Chutney in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
3. You can Serve this Mint Coriander Chutney with pakoras, samosas, chaat, chole, potato chips or other snacks.

Quick Garlic Cottage Cheese (Paneer) recipe

I was not fond of paneer until I made a decision to add this to my diet since it is a great source of protein.

The recipe below works great since it is so quick and easy and makes Paneer taste divine!

Here's how the recipe goes!

Yummiest baked carrots ever!

In a quest to undo some damage that my "hobby" of trying new restaurants does, I've started experimenting low-cal ways of eating my veggies. I'm always looking for flavor, even in my boiled veggies. Last night, I felt a little bolder (and lazier) than usual and decided to bake my carrots to accompany some pieces of grilled chicken breasts for dinner.

A quick internet research on how to best bake carrots, I found myself yet again on the page of one of my favorite people...Jamie Oliver! knowing how simple, healthy and, most importantly, yummy his recipes have turned out in the past, I tried baking the carrots like he suggested. Try it out but please remember that I love this guy so don't come back to me with comments like, "I love Jamie too!" I do not react very well to real or imagined threats to inaccessible men I love...especially when that particular crush is a divine cook.

Okay, here we go:

• 750 g young bunched carrots, different colours if possible, washed and scrubbed
• olive oil
• Vinegar (or red wine vinegar if available)
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme (optional)
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
    

Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Toss your carrots with a good lug of olive oil, a splash of vinegar, salt and pepper, the thyme sprigs and the garlic cloves. Place in a roasting tray or earthenware dish, cover tightly with tinfoil and cook for 20-30 minutes until just tender. If you like your carrots browned and caramelized, remove the foil and cook for a further 10 minutes.

See how simple that was? it took 2-3 minutes to prep and shove the carrots into the oven  and in the meanwhile I grilled my chicken.

Kadhai Paneer

Last night I came home from office after a 2-hour drive through the horrible traffic jams. The journey would have ideally been somewhere between 45 minutes to a little over an hour. And I came home to find that my mom was not only busier than I was, but also that she too was stuck in a traffic jam. Since it was close to dinner time and no dinner in sight, I volunteered to prepare the entire meal. The rice, dal and my very simple spicy pepper squid (another post) turned out well, I hunted for simple paneer recipes and came across Tarla Dalal’s Kadhai Paneer recipe on http://www.tarladalal.com.  

It was easy and tasted really, really good. Here's how you make it:

Preparation Time: 30 min.

Cooking Time: 20 min.
Serves 6.

Ingredients

500 gms (1 1/8 lb.) paneer (cottage cheese)
100 gms capsicum
2 tsp coriander (dhania) seeds
5 whole red chillies
3/4 tsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi)
2 green chillies, chopped
2 tsp chopped ginger
4 tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp chopped coriander (dhania)
3 tbsp ghee (I don’t like oily food so I did cut down on the ghee and added vegetable oil to nearly half the quantity mentioned here)
salt to taste

For the paste
6 cloves garlic (lehsun) mixed with a little water

Method

1. Slice the paneer and capsicum into thin long strips.
2. Pound the coriander seeds and red chillies together.
3. Heat the ghee, add the garlic paste and cook on a slow flame for a few seconds.
4. Add the capsicum and pounded spices and cook on a slow flame for 30 seconds.
5. Add the green chillies and ginger and fry again for a few seconds.
6. Add the tomatoes and cook until the ghee comes on top. (note: I’ll be using tomato paste next time. Also I ended up adding about 2 Tbsp tomato ketchup to make it a little “saucier”)
7. Add the kasoori methi and salt and fry again for a few seconds.
8. Finally, add the sliced paneer and cook for a few minutes.
9. Sprinkle coriander on top and serve hot.

Tangy okra (bhindi)

Yes, this is a recipe. Yes, I cook...occasionally and often reluctantly. In the more recent months, however, I have re-discovered the joys of cooking. Well, to be honest, it's the joy of trying out new recipes. I'm happy to report that my family is now less jittery when I enter the kitchen to cook. And now that my cook has left us, I'm happy to work cook (and clean the kitchen simultaneously) while my mom gets her break from usual cooking.

Last night, certain circumstances forced me to cook dinner yet again and I used that opportunity to try out a simple recipe that I found on www.khanakhazana.com. It turned out so yummy that I would have paid good bucks to have it in a restaurant. No, I'm not boasting about my cooking skills here since my culinary skills are quite rudimentary to be honest but the fact that a person with limited cooking skills like myself was able to follow the recipe and present something that tasted as good as this did deserves praise, don't you think?

Also, I decided that I just had to start collecting my successful kitchen experiments. After all, if I can cook, you can too!  

(PS: I wish I had taken a better photo :P )

Here's how to create a bowl of amazing tangy okra:

Ingredients

• 1/2 kg lady's finger (okra/bhindi)
• 1 big Onion
• 4-5 red chillies
• 1 clove Garlic
• 1 Lemon
• 2 tsp Jeera
• 1 Tomato
• 1/2 tsp Haldi powder
• 1 tsp Dhania powder
• salt according to taste
• cooking oil

Directions

1. Wash and cut Okra (Bhindi) in 4-5 pieces each. Don't wash it after cutting, it will make the preparation very gooey.
2. Heat oil in a pan add jeera on it till brown, now add chopped onion and fry till lite brown
3. Add diced Okra and fry for some time
4. then add lemon on it. Don't put water
5. then add haldi powder, dhania powder.
6. Cover and simmer it for 15 min
7. make a chutney of red chillies, garlic, tomatoes and salt
8. Now add chutney on it and mix well
9. Cook anther 10 min on low flame and cover on it
10. its ready to serve