Masala Scrambled Eggs

I am huge fan of eggs. Meat, seafood, even vegetables I can do without a long time but eggs I need at least twice a week. The best thing about eggs is their versatility - scramble them, fry them, boil them, whisk them to add in desserts or casserole, use them to make batters and egg washes - basically you can pretty much do anything with them. And you know eggs are at their very best - at the time of breakfast. A hangover from the colonial times - but you have to admit they are the crown jewel of your breakfast table.

This post is quick, for breakfast on the go. Our times made for running and not for walking  and in these times cooking can be a trial. So the recipe is for finding flavor, even when you need to dash and run to work. It also can be used for a late brunch or quick snack at tea time. Basically it is a fool proof recipe for any meal time. I serve this with toast, fried sausages and a nice cup of English breakfast tea. You can also make a pot of coffee and fry some tomatoes. I dont like tomatoes by themselves so I leave them out of the mix but go ahead. It does add one more element for your breakfast table.

Ingredients:
4 eggs whisked
4 curry leaves sliced
1 small onion sliced
2 cloves of garlic chopped
half a green chilly chopped
1tsp cumin powder
1tsp coriander powder
salt to taste
Oil for cooking
1tbsp coriander leaves chopped

Method:
Heat oil. Fry curry leaves and onions. As they brown, add garlic and chilly. Cook for two minutes. The trick to this quick cook is to have the flame on high and stir onions constantly till they brown.
Add the spice powders.
Lower the flame. Pour in the eggs and scramble. Season and fold in the coriander leaves. Serve hot.

Quick Pasta

When it is midnight and you are hungry, you just grab whatever is on hand and make a quick snack. Or you put out pretty bowls and make a batch of quick and easy pasta. And trust me it always works. Thanks to the many imports into the country and the boom of online grocery shopping, we have come in touch with a lot of culinary inspirations that earlier were rare to be found. Also, the Indian palate has changed over the years. We no longer make do with gluggy pasta with lot of milk and cheese. Instead, there is parmesan to be sprinkled over, breadcrumbs to be added or a little mascarpone to be touched into the regular tomato sauce.
And thank God for that. I prefer a little garlic and chili sauteed in olive oil and spaghetti tossed through it and served with a cheese grated over the pasta. And in those hours of midnight, this little treat is all you need.

Ingredients:
Spaghetti as required
1 packet of mushroom chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped
1tbsp red chilli flakes
1tbsp oregano
pinch of salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese grated as required
Olive Oil as required
Method:
Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add spaghetti as much as you require.
As the spaghetti cooks, heat olive oil. Fry garlic and red chili flakes.
Add mushrooms and fry. Sprinkle with oregano, salt and pepper. Cook for ten minutes until the mushrooms is all out of its water. If you like you can add tomatoes and cook for ten minutes more.
Remove a cup of water from the boiling pasta. Drain spaghetti.
Add the pasta water to the pot. Adjust seasonings. Toss the spaghetti through the sauce.
Remove from heat and mix it all the way through. Portion into bowls and then add a little cheese on top.

Kadhai Mushroom

Remember that episode in The Big Bang Theory - The Vegas Renormalization where Sheldon talks about the merits of Kadhai Paneer. It was folksy the way he bungled around the Indian words [ he might not object to the word folksy] but somehow this particular dish stuck with me. I have already made Kadhai Paneer in one other post. This post started out as a way of having mushrooms for dinner. Since the author had re-watched the episode a couple of days back, her unconscious well it had its own direction for this recipe.
For this recipe's unique flavor, you need to have two things - one sliced capsicum and the other its spice paste. After that all you need is some sliced mushrooms and onions and you are off to make a cracker of a dish which even Sheldon Cooper would think delicious enough to be enjoyed in his Fortress of Solitude [if he is not locked out that is]

Making the Spice Paste:
2 medium tomatoes chopped
1 small onion chopped
2 green chilly chopped
1tbsp of water.
Grind to make a smooth paste. I am making this with readymade ginger-garlic paste. If you are using fresh than add 1inch ginger and 6 cloves of garlic.

For the curry:
1 cinnamon stick
1tbsp of cumin
1bay leaf
1 medium onion sliced
2tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1/4cup of the paste made above
1 packet button mushrooms sliced
1 large capsicum sliced
2tsp red chili powder
2tsp cumin powder
2tsp coriander powder
a pinch of turmeric
2tbsp garam masala
salt to taste
2tbsp water
Oil for frying

Method:
Heat oil. When it is hot, splutter the spices. When they start to sizzle, add the sliced onion and brown. This on high heat takes around eight minutes.
Add the spice paste. Cook for three minutes. Add the ginger-garlic paste and cook the whole lot for ten-fifteen minutes. Add the spice powder except garam masala and a little water. Cook for five minutes.
Add mushrooms and fold everything in. The mushroom will need another ten minutes to cook. At this time also add the garam masala and the salt. If it is a little dry then add some water.
The final result needs to be the masala coating the mushroom. Adjust seasonings. Serve it with some hot rotis.

Aloo Posto

In an Oriya household - even the trult carnivorous ones - Tueday is a day of rest. It is the day when even the hardcore meat-eaters rest their laurels and settle down for vegetarian options. I do not actually know the origins of this austerity but from what I have been able to glean - Tuesday or Mangalbar is an equivalent of a sankrant day or a holy day. It is the day where satvik khana is the  that is food with no meat or egg or onions and garlic. I know that in our household, even red chili powder is considered to be in line of with non-vegetarian. Slightly crazy I know, but Indian culture and its cooking is defined by this unique quirkiness [and that is intended as an affectionate compliment].

 Luckily for me, my mother and my aunts have perfected the art of delicious cooking inspite of the ban. And their secret ingredient is - Posto or poppy seeds. The seeds are soaked in water all night and the next morning grinded into a paste that is still laced with some of the unblended seeds. That gives this dish its characteristic texture. Although it time-pressed, you can skip the overnight step but it is advisable that you soak it for at least two to three hours. This recipe has been worked at by my mother over the years and I can say that it has reached the pinnacle of its glory. Its versatility allows it to be eaten with anything - rotis, rice and dal, puris, paranthas and even toast. So you can make this dish with whatever you fancy. And you would be amazed at its cooking time. All you have to do is to take some time to boil your potatoes.

 

Ingredients:
3 medium potatoes, boiled
1/2 cup poppy seeds soaked in water
2 medium tomatoes
2tbsp cashewnuts
2tbsp nigella seeds or kalonji or kala jeera
2 green chillies, slitted
1tbsp turmeric
Salt to taste
3tbsp water
2tbsp oil for cooking

Method:
Make a paste with poppy seeds in water, tomatoes and cashewnuts. Dont worry of the little seeds that do not blend. It adds flavor. Keep your boiled potatoes ready.
Heat oil. When it is hot so you can see a line of smoke , add the spice paste. Fry for ten minutes.
Add a green chilly and turmeric. When the masala starts to stick, add the boiled potatoes and a little water. Fold in for five minutes.
Add the nigella seeds, the green chilly and salt to your taste. Cook for five minutes till all the masala has blended in.
I served this with hot matar puris which is a good combination for this subtle, slightly sweet, slightly hot curry.

Monday Khichdi

In one other post I talked about cheat's khichdi which can be made by throwing ingredients into the rice cooker and then letting it simmer till done. This post is about something a little more time consuming - in the sense that you need to fry some of the ingredients before letting the pressure cooker do its work. The recipe is a sookha preparation which when done comes somewhere between khichdi and a pulao. It is adapted from this amazing post from The New York Times.
The everyday life leaves little time for flavor. I mean when you are back home after a hard day's work, do you really want spend more than even an hour on cooking, developing depths of flavor, making sure that it is cooked to perfection and all the details are taken care of. On an average night, you are just happy to throw frozen dinners into a microwave and push buttons. Don't get me wrong - frozen dinners have their own merits but taking that little time - oh boy does it work. This recipe can be done on a  Monday so you can utilize your leftover Sunday curries. Also, when you chop onions and chillies, keep some aside for a quick Monday night supper.

Ingredients:
2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 bay leaf
1 dried red chillies
1 medium onions sliced
1 chilly chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp kitchen king powder
salt to taste
1/2 cup massoor dal
1 cup rice
1 tsp ghee
oil for frying
water as required
Method:
Wash and soak the rice and dal while you get the ingredients ready.
Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add the red chilly and bay. As it sizzles, add the cumin and mustard seeds. Let it splutter.
Add the onion, chillies. Fry till the onions are slightly golden and the tomatoes are a little squishy. Sprinkle salt, turmeric and kitchen king powder.
Fold in the rice and dal and fry for a minute till everything is mixed it together. Add four and half cups of water and a little bit of ghee.
Put the cover of the pressure cooker. Cook for two whistles. Serve piping hot with whichever curry is at hand.

Mushroom Masala with Coconut Milk

So, little sister swung by last week. It was days of shopping, Chinese lunches, talking late into the night and our usual dose of Lord of the Rings. And, of course treating ourselves with lots of home-made food. Her favorite vegetable of all time is the Mushroom and so yours truly decided to make an extra special lunch for her. The menu was lightly spiced moong dal, mushroom masala with coconut milk and steamed rice tossed with ghee. All these are particular favorites and so the enjoyment in making them was obvious.
The masala is made with the usual base of onion, ginger and garlic. The cheat used here is a carton of tomato puree so as to make the process quicker and also make a more smoother curry. The coconut milk adds another element of flavor to the curry that goes very well with the dal and rice. If you are making dal and sabzi make sure to cook them before beginning the curry itself. You can put the rice to cook as you start on the curry.

Ingredients:
2 medium onions sliced
1 inch ginger chopped
5 cloves garlic chopped
2tbsp tomato puree
1tsp red chili powder
1tsp coriander powder
1tsp kitchen king powder
1tsp garam masala
salt to taste
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup water
coriander leaves for garnish
Oil for frying
Method:
Heat oil. Fry onions till browned. This should take around ten minutes. Add the ginger and garlic so as to make chunky base. Cook for three minutes.
Add the tomato puree, salt, red chili powder, coriander powder, kitchen king powder. Fold everything together. Cook for seven to eight minutes. Remove from heat.
Add in the coconut milk and water. Adjust seasonings and simmer for five minutes. When the flavor is to your liking add the coriander leaves. Serve hot with the rice and dal.

Maida puris

The maida puri is definitely the dish that forms the backbone to the food served on any puja or festive occasion. Be it Ganesh puja, Saraswati puja or the sankrant , there would always be puris and aloo kasa for the before and after, the herald to the dishes to come. Have I mentioned that the Oriyas love their potatoes? I think I might have trumpeting it incessantly. We do love our potatoes. And it is the perfect accompaniment to the puris.

 This recipe is close to my heart. It reminds me with one whiff the times of my childhood. We would all have woken up early morning for ganesh puja, put on new clothes and come down to the puja room. The room would be decorated the last night and we would wait with anticipation for the face of the ganesha to be unveiled. As the puja  proceeds, smells of smoky oil, spices, frying onions and fresh coriander would be racing through the house coupled with the burnt ghee from the fire. These smells would always remind of the holidays when there is no school and the exciting prospect of Harry Potter movie later in the afternoon.
My adaptation of this home cooked classic is to add kalonji or kala jeera[nigella seeds] to the dough. Trust me it gives it a subtle lift that compliments the aloo curry very well. But, if you prefer, you can go ahead with the regular dough without any flecks of nigella seeds in them. The aloo kasa recipe has been put up in another post in the blog. Please do follow to serve a rich, spicy meal or if you like a lighter curry you can serve the puris with aloo matar. Whichever way you go, it is all good.

Ingredients:
2/3rd cup flour or maida
1tbsp oil
1tbsp salt
1tsp kalonji or nigella seeds
Water as required
Oil for frying

Method:
Sift the flour with salt. Add the oil and kalonji and rub through your fingers to make a crumbly mess. Add 1/2 cup of water and mix all the ingredients together. If required add a little more water in order to make a smooth, elastic dough. You know the dough is done when you push a finger at it and it bounces back. Cover with a wet towel and leave it to rise for half an hour. During this time you can make your curry to go with it.
Remove the towel and make balls from the dough. It should make about eight portions. If you require more, double the quantities. Dip the balls in some flour and roll out round puris.
Heat oil in a pan to the smoking point. When the puris hit the oil, they should sizzle and puff. Add the puris one by one. Fry until they become light golden in the middle and the edges. Serve piping hot.

Signature Moong Dal

A whole blog. For how many years? And no dal?  
At all? Really, at all?
And so this post shall be dedicated to the dal - to the dish that can go from humble to jewel of the menu at the blink of an eye. For any Indian meal be it simple or fancy, a dal is a must-have. Like the ubiquitous clutch or the little black dress, a good dal recipe is a given for any cook aspiring to master the essentials of Indian cooking. And the author would know, since she collects fashion as she hordes her recipes and ingredients.

The dal  is one of those dishes that can be used in almost any meal or any course. Looking for a quick morning breakfast or light dinner - dal and roti with little bit of aloo sabzi. A healthy lunch - dal with steamed rice and baingan bharta. The dal can also be converted into a soup and had with toast [trust me, it is delicious]. You can used it so many permutations and combinations that it is handy to perfect your own recipe and make it your signature. My grandmother prefers arhar dal and she has turned it into one of the hallmarks of her culinary repertoire. My cousin actually asks her to pack him a lunchbox whenever he has to return back to the city so that he can have more of this dal. So, go on ahead, find your choice of dal, your own tadka and  perfect your recipe. Once you do, people will keep coming back for more.

Ingredients:
2/3rd cup of moong dal
Water[twice the amount of the dal]
2tsp turmeric
2tsp salt
Water as required later
For the tadka
4 cloves of garlic chopped
1 green chilly slitted
1tsp cumin seeds
1tsp mustard seeds
2 dried red chillies
1 bay leaf
Oil
1/2 cup of coriander leaves chopped

Method:
Put the dal, the water, turmeric and salt in the pressure cooker. Cook for three whistles. The dal should be a thick consistency when you open the pressure cooker.
Heat oil in a wok. When it is hot, add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, dried red chillies and bay leaf. Fry till the room is full of spicy aromas. Add the garlic and cook for a minute.
Add the dal and a cup full of water. Stir and then simmer for five minutes. Adjust salt if required. Add the slitted green chilly and the coriander leaves. Simmer for two more minutes and serve with your meal of choice.

Thursday Pulao

When you are running errands, picking up groceries and finishing up the final stages of your presentations you have three options for dinner on a Thursday - order takeout, re-heat leftovers[probably the takeout from Wednesday night] or throw something together for a tasty dinner for family or friends. Some days you go with the first two options - I mean life is so demanding these days - but on other days you need a home cooked meal to soothe away all those frustrations of the day. And, on those days, only a lightly spiced pulao will do.
Okay, I have to be honest here. This recipe was a spur of the moment throwing together of ingredients. There was no method or template involved. And it was good [at least that was the general consensus]. And so I felt like sharing this recipe in this post. The pulao is the ultimate making lemonade out of leftover lemons. All you need to do is to chop some carrots and thaw frozen peas. While the peas are thawing, slit a chilly and assemble your spices. This recipe is made in a rice cooker so as to cut down on cooking and cleaning time.

Ingredients:
1 cup basmati rice[soaked]
1 green chilly slitted
2 medium carrots chopped
1/2 cup peas
1tsp cumin seeds
2 dried red chillies broken
1 cinnamon
2tsp nigella seeds
2tbsp oil
Water for boiling

Method:
Press the cook option of the rice cooker. Heat oil. In a couple of minutes, the oil should be ready to temper the spices. Add in the dried red chilles, cinnamon and cumin seeds. Put in the green chilly as well. Fry for a minute.
Add the carrots and saute everything. Add the soaked rice, kalonji and fold in with everything. Pour in twice the amount of water and cover. Let the rice cooker do its work. If you need water, add 1/4 cup of water into the cooker and cook for ten more minutes.
I served this rice with channa masala made from canned chickpeas. It is quick and easy and perfect for the weekday dinner. Enjoy.

Onion Pakoras in Five Steps

The author loves her fried food. Fry mostly anything[except fish or seafood] and she will happily consume it with some chai or coke. And be grateful to you. Because this love began early, her interest in cooking also began early. The whole drama of whisking a batter, coating all the manner of food in it and then watching it sizzle in hot oil - how could she resist! The years have long gone but this almost childish anticipation has not yet left her. And so yet again I go on the road of pakoras. Back home, pakoris would be sourced from this local place near High court which caters to people from the whole expanse of the town. And when it is brought home, its heady scents would invariably be accompanied by hot, freshly brewed ginger tea. This post is my attempt to recreate those times - complete with picture albums and all.

The pakoras of this recipe is made of onions, chillies and coriander leaves. And a particular favorite of mine on certain cold days with too much rain and not enough sunshine. You can slice or chop the onions and the chillies and finely mince the coriander leaves. A little more assembly of ingredients and you are good to go. Trust me, when you have a bite of this, it will soon become a tradition. So, here I go - onion pakoras in five simple steps.

Ingredients:
6 small onions
2 green chillies chopped
1 bunch of coriander leaves, minced
2 tsp red chili powder
1tsp garam masala
salt to taste
baking soda a pinch
2/3rd cup of besan or gram flour
1/2 cup of water
Oil for frying

Step one:
Slice onions, chop chillies and mince coriander leaves. Mix all of them together.

Step two:
Mix the besan with 1 tsp of oil. Add the spice powders, salt and baking soda. Mix. Pour the water in a steady stream until a thick-ish batter is formed.

Step three:
Heat oil.

Step four:
Add the onion mix and fold everything together. If you think the batter is too thin, add besan. If it is too thick, then add a tablespoon of water.

Step five:
Drop a little batter into the oil. If it starts to sizzle, then start adding spoonfuls of batter into the oil. Fry till golden brown.

Though technically it is five steps, there is a sixth step. That would be to brew some tea, add red chili sauce to the side and serve the pakoras hot alongside it. And life will be good.

Aloo ki sabzi

Potatoes fried in oil and spices - you really cannot go wrong with that. This recipe - be it as a side-dish to be had with puris or the regular dal and rice, a filling for samosas or paranthas, or just like that with papdi chat - is very versatile and flexible. As stated above - there are a lot of options for this recipe. And its quick and easy. So really it is a win-win all round.
The only preparation required is boiling the potatoes. After that, a quick stir-fry and you are done. The post you see is as short as the recipe I am about to write. Trust me it is that simple. So, try it out for dinner tonight or for breakfast tomorrow. You will not regret it.

Ingredients:
2 large potatoes, boiled and diced
2 tbsp oil
2 tsp jeera
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp kitchen king powder
1 tsp coriander powder
salt to taste

Method:
Heat oil. Add cumin and splutter for a few seconds.
Add the potatoes and fold in the oil and the jeera. Sprinkle all the spice powders and adjust the salt.
Mix everything together and cook for a few more minutes. It should not take more than 5 to 7 minutes for the spices to cook.
Serve hot.

Mint rice

There is nothing better than a pulao well-made. You need to make sure that the rice is perfectly soft and fluffy. The spice added to it should compliment and not detract the flavor of the rice. And when you finally eat, it should be the perfect canvas for every curry or sabzi that you make. Most of the time when you make this dish, it involves a lot of work. But, it does not have to - not every time. For me, when it is Friday night and you need to something quick and delicious - you make this rice. This is an adaptation of the rice recipe that my aunt makes so as to wire it for convenience.
All you need is rice, mint, onion and chillies. And, lots of pepper. You can make all of this in a rice cooker. That will cut down on the cooking and the utensil time. A one-pot wonder for any occasion.

Ingredients:
A bunch of mint
1 medium onion sliced
1 green chilly chopped
1and 1/2 cup of rice soaked
salt to taste
3 cups of water
2 tbsp of pepper
Oil for frying

Method:
Heat oil. Saute onion and chillies. Cook till onions are light brown.
Add the mint and pepper. Steam it for two minutes. Add the rice and salt. Fold in all the ingredients. Pour in the water and set it to cook till the rice it soft. Add a little water if you think the rice is a little chewy. Fluff the rice with a work.
I served this rice with egg curry and dahi baingan. But, this dish is so versatile that you can serve it with any curry from vegetarian to non-vegetarian. Happy cooking!

An lunch with a dash of spice

So what do you do when you have friends over and have promised them something special from your kitchen? You make some nice stuffed paranthas and a plain sabzi and let them fight over who gets the last piece of flaky bread and pickle. I think Indians have achieved an art form in the making of stuffed paranthas. Alu, gobi, methi, mooli, palak, dal, cheese, mixed-veg, paneer, kheema - you name it and some one or the other would put it in atta or maida and they would roll out bread to be toasted in oil and served with spicy chutney, pickle or curry.
This particular day was drizzly and slightly gloomy. The perfect weather for curling up with warm cocoa and reading your favorite book. Not perhaps the best day for inviting company. But, you really cannot delay the inevitable. Soups will take sometime and let's face it - you want something a little more fun and very hot. And, the author loves being ambitious [to her own deterrent]. So, she announces - I will make you nice palak paranthas with alu curry.

 The recipe for palak paranthas is adapted from Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking. This cookbook is a must for anyone beginning an ambitious journey into the wonderful aromas of the Indian hearth. I mean, no wonder, this book was awarded a James Beard. It should belong to the repertoire of any aspiring Indian cook. I have added coriander and chillies to make a little more interesting. And, this is a good thing. While there are certain things you should follow down to the last letter, it is important you make it your own. So boldly experiment and make it for yourself so you learn and fine-tune and just have fun in the process.
The curry forms the perfect accompaniment - spicy and yet light enough for a lunch. You can also use this a side-dish for a meat main course. It is a versatile dish that can meld into any Indian table you might favor. Go forth and prosper.

 Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cup of atta
1tbsp salt
500 gm of spinach, boiled
2 medium potatoes, boiled
2 green chillies
1 bunch coriander leaves
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1tsp ajwain
2 dried red chillies
1 bay leaf
4 small onions, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1tbsp red chilli powder
1tsp kitchen king powder
1tsp coriander powder
1tsp garam masala
water as needed
Oil for the curry

Method
Boil potatoes and spinach. Remove the spinach after three minutes. Mix it with coriander leaves. If they are too big, chop it into little pieces.
In a bowl, mix the atta with salt. Add spinach, coriander, 1 chopped green chilly, cumin seeds and ajwain. Add water as required and make a dough. Cover it with a wet cloth and leave it to rise.
While the dough is taken care of, heat oil. Add 1tbsp cumin seeds and splutter. Break the red chillies in half and add to the oil along with the bay.

 Add the onions and fry till golden brown. Add a ginger-garlic paste and fry for two minutes. Add the diced tomatoes and a little bit of red chilli powder. Fry till the tomatoes mashes into the onions, ginger and garlic. Add a little water if the masala sticks.
Add the boiled potatoes and fold into the spice base. Sprinkle red chilli powder, kitchen king and coriander powder. Adjust the salt. Cook for five minutes.
Add 1/4 cup of water, garam masala and simmer till all the water has almost left.
Put this away and take out your dough.
Roll the spinach dough into round roti-sized shapes. Toast the rotis for a few minutes till golden spots appear. Add a teaspoon of oil around it and toast for a few more minutes. Repeat with the other. Serve the paranthas with the curry, tomato pickle and slitted green chillies.
 

Wholesome food

For a nice wholesome lunch or dinner, a plain khichdi with an easy curry forms the ideal recipe. My mother - being the domestic goddess that she is - makes this recipe with ghee, cauliflower, toasted dal and rice - the works. The author likes her food a little simply prepared with as little fuss as possible. Except when she decides not to. This particular dish was created out of a desire to eat something - anything - other than the mess food. Usually I just throw everything in the rice cooker and then let the machine do all the work. The 35 minutes that it takes, you can chop up some potatoes and spinach for a quick sabzi and assemble a salad. This menu is healthy and tastes warm and delicious on a cold, foggy evening. All that is required is a few minutes of work and you are good to go.
This is also a good recipe when you have leftovers in the fridge and want to finish it off before market day.  Quick and tasty, this recipe takes so little and gives so much flavor back.

Ingredients:
1cup rice
2cup dal[preferably moong dal]
2 small onions, sliced
2 medium carrots, sliced
1/2 large capsicum, chopped
a handful of beans, chopped
1/2 cauliflower, chopped
2tsp red chili powder
1tsp coriander powder
1/2tsp turmeric
1tsp cumin powder
1tsp garam masala
salt to taste

Method:
Soak the rice and dal in the cooker. While they are soaking, you can chop all the vegetables.
Add the vegetables except capsicum to the pre-soaked rice and dal. Sprinkle all the spice powders. Adjust the salt.
Add around nine cups of water to the cooker. That is the rule of thumb. You should always add thrice the amount of water to rice and dal combined. Close the lid and cook.  If you are doing it in a pressure cooker then around four to five whistles should do it.
Before the last five minutes add the capsicum and close the lid again. In the pressure cooker it should be before the last whistle.
You will know when the khichdi is ready when the dal melts into the rice. If you like, sprinkle a little lemon juice before serving. 

Spicyness

There are some dishes - that no matter how cliche or redundant - never lose their delicious tastes. I mean look at Gobi manchurian - humble, unassuming and yet still serving strong in food establishments all over India. And not surprising, this dish is tasty and forms the appropriate appetizer for any form of Indian meal. In terms of home cooking, this forms the ideal appetizer, party nibbles, side-dish to any Chinese meal or just a bowl full of it to eat while you watch The Big Bang Theory.
The procedure to making this dish is simple with a little bit of chopping involved. But, it is quick once the steps are fulfilled in their order. And, in no time, this will become your signature recipe. The trick to making the cauliflower nice and juicy is to do what my grandmother does - boil the cauliflower for a few minutes. This gets rid of the raw, crunchiness of the vegetable and soften it later deliciousness.So, go get the ingredients and prepare yourself for some Monday night spicy-ness.

Ingredients:
2 cauliflowers
2tsp soy sauce
1tsp oyster sauce
2tsp vinegar
1tbsp red chili sauce
4tbsp cornflour
1inch ginger
4 cloves garlic
5 spring onions
1 capsicum
3 chillies
salt
pepper
1/4 cup water
Oil for frying

Method:
Chop the cauliflower into small florets. Boil the cauliflower for 5 to 6 minutes.

Remove. Add soy, oyster, vinegar, red chili sauce, salt and pepper. Marinade for a few minutes.
Heat oil. Toss the cauliflower with 3 tbsp of cornflour. Fry in batches.

Remove most of the oil and reserve. Add the ginger, garlic, spring onion, chillies, capsicum. Cook for five minutes. Add soy, red chili sauce and vinegar.
This is the tricky part. You need to adjust the seasonings so that the hot, sweet, salty and sour are correctly balanced. Usually the soy and vinegar should be put in equal quantities. But, the taste is subjective. Whatever suits your palate, go with it.

Sprinkle salt and pepper. Add the cauliflower and fold everything in. Do a final check on seasoning and serve hot. 

Pasta with Three-cheese White Sauce

The first pasta dish I tasted was penne tossed with Bechamel  sauce and served with crispy garlic bread. It remains the most simple french sauces that I can make and recommend. The balance always remains to make it not too heavy or too thin or to not add too much cheese. Me, I add a little too much red chili flakes so that the spice buds kick right at the back of your throat. But, it is tasty.
The pasta in white sauce is a simple, easy dish - probably belongs to the eighties - but still hanging around the standard cafes and Italian restaurants in Indian metros and towns. However, on some days, you just want something really unhealthy and the joy of making something continental thus showing off your culinary repertoire. This particular pasta dish is rich and creamy with a slight technicality involved. It is probably better to make it once a month or two but works well for an evening of an extra special family dinner.

The trick to making a good bechamel is to use a whisk and follow the measurement guidelines of 1-tbsp butter to 1 tbsp flour to 1 cup milk. Then, you can experiment around with other flavors to find a one that becomes your signature dish. Sauteing minced garlic and shallots adds a nice flavor. Or you could add a range of herbs to the dish. So, go forth and explore.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2 cups of flour
1 cup macaroni
1/2 cup penne
1 tbsp oregano
2 tbsp red chili flakes
3-4 tbsp cheese
salt
pepper
water for making pasta

Method:
Making pasta:
Put a pot of water to boil. Once the water starts bubbling, add a tbsp of salt and watch the water sizzle. Add the pasta. The macaroni will take around 5 minutes. The penne will take somewhere around 10-11 minutes.
Making bechamel:
As the pasta boils, heat a saucepan. Melt butter and add flour. Whisk rapidly to a smooth roux. Add the milk and whisk till everything dissolves into a smooth consistency. The color will change from white to slightly creamy.
Add oregano, red chili flakes, salt and pepper. This is the tricky part. You need to taste and then adjust the seasonings to your liking. Once, that is done, add the cheese and some of the pasta water. This will give the sauce a smoothness and a depth of flavor.
Drain the pasta and then toss with the sauce. Serve immediately.

Rajma Masala

What do you do on a Wednesday night after you have had a long hard day? Open a can of kidney beans and make Rajma Masala. While the masala simmers, throw some rice into the cooker to steam. And voila, Supper is on the table, easy peasy. For a more elaborate meal which you might be inclined to making on Saturday nights or Sunday lunches, this recipe would be good side-dish that impresses. The trick is in the making of the curry base with just the right balance of the various spice powders.
Rajma masala or spicy kidney bean curry is an iconic dish that comes from North-India. The proper setting for partaking this delicacy would be sitting in one of the dhabas that line the roads of northern state of Punjab ladling generous servings on trays and a mountain of paranthas dripping with butter. There would be small bowls of slitted chilies, onion slices and lemon wedges alongside. But, after a hard day's work, a quick meal is the way to go. And this versatile dish becomes the epitome of that quickness.
The shortcut is a can of kidney beans and a squeeze packet of ginger-garlic paste available at super-markets. The only prepping needed to be done is slicing one medium onion and tomato and sliting two chilies[or one for the faint-hearted]. And, of course waiting for the rice to cook. But, bottom line-the food would be done in mostly around twenty-five minutes. About enough time to cleanse, tone and moisturize the day away.

Ingredients:
1 can of kidney beans
1 medium onions sliced
1 medium tomato diced
2 green chilies slitted
2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 small lemon
salt to taste
oil for frying

Method:
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan. Saute onions for ten minutes till slightly browned.
Add the ginger-garlic paste and tomatoes. Fry for five minutes till the tomatoes soften a little. If the masala sticks add a little water.
Sprinkle all the spice powders and fold everything together.
Add the kidney beans and the juices from the can. Sprinkle salt and let the masala simmer.
During this time put the rice in the cooker or if you have frozen chapathis put them on to heat. [You see how ridiculous slacking I am indulging in right now. I have no doubt that you understand the impulse]
The masala would need ten minutes to cook and then you can squeeze a little lemon on top of it. Keep the curry on till ready to serve.
Slice some onion, cut some lime into wedges and slit a few chilies if you have the time. Ladle hot rajma masala over steamed rice and get ready to devour.

Thoran

Living in  a multicultural university gave me an opportunity to discover new cuisines and ingredients that I probably would never even consider tasting. And the exploration resulted in heady new flavors. One of the discoveries was my introduction to the Mallus. There was once a quote shared on facebook that "You do not happen to Mallus, they happen to you". Resham George happened to me and let me tell you it was one of the highlights of my postgraduate days. She introduced me to her mother Lathika George and her debut cookbook - The Suriani Kitchen and that day was good for the future of my tastebuds. The book brings us recipes from the Syrian community of Kerala - some indigenous and some that are staples in the Kerala kitchen. The book cover is unassuming echoing memories of the old memories of grandmothers on the grindstones, smoky coal ovens, blackened iron skillets and comforting aromas of the Indian hearth. The pages that followed did not disappoint - playful stringhoppers or idiappams, indulgent chemeen biryani, the staple Kerala chicken stew, the famous appam and stew, the delightful avial...the list just goes on and on. And the best part of the book - you follow the instructions and the food that comes out is just right.

I first flipped through the pages of the book at Resham's home in Kodaikanal. And once I touched down on flat land buying the book was the first on my land. Since then, it has become my constant companion in creating delicious, easy recipes from the land of Kerala. The recipe in this post is Cabbage thoran  which is adapted from her spinach thoran recipe from the book. The thoran is a spice paste made with grated coconut and aromatics. The cabbage is tossed with this paste and fried with some mustard seeds and curry leaves. I have added some turmeric for color and a green chilly - well, because I love the spicy kick.

Ingredients:
For the thoran
1 medium red onion
1 inch ginger
4 garlic cloves
1 cup grated coconut
1tsp cumin seeds
Blend all the ingredients together for a coarse paste.
To fry
1 medium cabbage very finely chopped
1tsp mustard seeds
7-9 curry leaves
2 dried red chillies
1 slitted green chilly
1tsp turmeric
salt to taste
oil for cooking
water as required

Method:
Toss the cabbage with the thoran paste
Heat oil. Splutter the mustard seeds. Break the chillies and add to the pan.
Add the curry leaves. Be careful of the splatter.
Fold in the marinated cabbage through the spluttering spices. Cook for five minutes.
Add the slitted green chilly and turmeric. Sprinkle 2tbsp of water and cook for fifteen more minutes.
Serve with some herbed rice and a spicy dal for a wholesome and delicious dinner.

The Easiest Side-dish

The Chilly Paneer recipe perhaps belongs to the past along with the roadside oily chowmein and slightly metallic tasting manchurian. But on days when you want something quick and tasty to impress without using up a huge chunk of your cooking time this is the dish to make. A little bit of chopping and dashes of sauces and you are good to go. The most important thing in this recipe is getting the balance of the soy sauce and vinegar right.

It was said that when Chinese immigrants landed in Kolkata they adapted their recipes so that their clientele could find the dishes palatable. And thus the Indo-chinese cuisine was born and still goes on in the street-carts and roadside dhabas. This cuisine for me in no way resembles the authentic chinese food, however it is tasty and hits your spice spots very nicely.

The only work you need to do is to chop the base needed for building the chilly sauce. Then you throw stuff together, taste and hey presto - the Chilly Paneer is ready. 

Ingredients:

5 spring onions chopped

1 tsp of minced ginger

1tsp of minced garlic

1 small capsicum chopped

1tbsp soy sauce

1tbsp vinegar

1tbsp Red chilli sauce

salt as required

pepper as required

paneer cut into chunks.*

oil for cooking

Method:

Heat 2tbsp of oil. Add the ginger and garlic. Saute for a minute till they release their aromas.

Add the spring onions and capsicum and cook for 2 minutes till they soften.

Add the soy, vinegar and red chili sauce. This is the tricky part. Taste and adjust the balance till you get all the flavors balanced together. Sprinkle salt and pepper. 

Add the paneer and fold in. Simmer for 2 minutes.

Serve as a side dish with fried rice or steamed rice and curry. Either way you have a tasty dish at your fingertips. Enjoy!

*The recipe here has used the Milky Mist paneer which for me is the best paneer you can find in the supermarket next to the fresh one.

And the time to cook....

Kadhai paneer was actually discovered by my father who saw it one day on Sanjeev Kapoor's Khana Khazana. Since its conception Khana khazana has brought indian and world recipes to Indian viewers in simple and easy ways and as a result for two months after that  initial viewing; on every family gathering this was the vegetarian main-course for dinner. After that since half the family loves paneer, it became standard fare for a Sunday lunch or a late Friday night dinner. And moi, a week after coming from home longed for the deliciousness that was fed to her while she spent her time watching Grey's anatomy and Dolce vita. So, standing at the frozen section aisle of the grocery section it was an easy choice to throw a slab of paneer into the cart.

The recipe is actually pretty standard and on the induction cooker - very easy.  It basically consists of throwing together standard ingredients that sit on the back of your fridge or the shelf. The addition of capsicum gives the kicky zing to the dish.The Kadhai paneer recipe that I have made right now is an adaptation of the Sanjeev Kapoor recipe.

Ingredients:
whole spices-
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
4 dried red chillies halved
1 medium onion sliced
2tbsp ginger-garlic paste
2 medium tomatoes sliced
1 medium capsicum sliced
2tbsp coriander powder
2tbsp Red chilli powder
2 slitted green chillies
paneer cut into chunks
salt as required
water[a little bit]
1tsp kasuri methi

Method:
Set Induction temperature to 0800.
Heat oil. Splutter the whole spices[the bay, cinnamon and dried red chillies]. Add a tsp of coriander powder.
Add onions and saute for 7 minutes. Add ginger-garlic paste and mix in. Cook for five minutes.
Add the tomatoes and fold in till the tomatoes mash into the mix. Sprinkle red chilli powder and coriander powder. Cook for two minutes and then add the capsicum, paneer and slitted chillies. At this point if the masala sticks add some water[ no more than 3 tablespoons]. Also, reduce the temperature to 0600.
Cook for five minutes and season as required.Finally add in kasuri methi and simmer for five minutes.
Serve with steamed rice and dal.