Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Mushroom and Peas Curry

Farmer's market usually has a wide variety of mushroom. Any variety of mushroom can be used for the recipe but Baby Bella mushroom makes this dish very meaty.




Ingredients:

1- 10 oz pack baby Bella mushrooms
1/2 cup frozen green peas
1 large onion, chopped
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp tomato paste
3/4 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp haldi (turmeric powder)
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1-2 tsp kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
salt to taste
oil

How it's made:

Clean mushrooms and cut into quarters.
In a heavy bottom pan, heat oil. Add onions and fry until light briwn. Add ginger and garlic paste. Fry for 3-4 minutes. Add tomato paste, chilli powder, turmeric and salt. Add 2-3 tbsp of water if the mixture is too dry. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Add mushrooms and peas. Cover and cook for 5-8 minutes on medium high heat. Add coriander, cumin powder and kasoori methi. Combine well. Cook on low heat for 2-3 minutes. Adjust seasoning. Serve hot with Naan/ Roti/ Bread.



Serves: 3



Friday, July 26, 2013

Palak Chicken (Chicken with Spinach)

Most kids I know love non-vegetarian food and this is the best way to get them to eat spinach, a vegetable which is not liked in most houses amongst kids. When I first cooked this dish in my kitchen, I saw weird expressions at the dinner table. Not anymore!!
While I volunteered at my son's school many years ago, I closely worked with one of his teachers for several hours a week. Her motto was "You get what you get and do not get upset". I was impressed with the phrase that I caught on to it and say that all the time specifically at the dinning table.





Ingredients:

1 lb chicken, skinless, cut into small pieces
1 large onion, sliced
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 tsp garlic paste
2 tsp ginger, grated
2 green chillies, chopped fine
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp haldi (turmeric powder)
1 tsp coriander powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1 - 10 oz box frozen spinach
salt to taste
oil

How it's made:

Thaw spinach at room temperature or in microwave. Rinse chicken under running water.

In a wide heavy bottom pan, heat oil. Add onions and fry until translucent. Add garlic, ginger and green chillies. Fry for 2-3 minutes and then add tomatoes. Cook until tomatoes turn soft. Add dry spices and salt to taste. Fry for a minute. Add spinach, chicken and mix well. Cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring in between. Adjust salt. Serve with Roti/ Naan/ Bread.

Serves: 4


Monday, July 22, 2013

Ambe Upkari (Ripe mango curry)

My husband insanely loves mangoes in any form and we have them at home through out the season.
The mangoes used for this dish are the small varieties, which are yellow/red in color. They were kept in a little box at the grocery store, unfortunately with no name on it. I decided to pick just three mangoes since I'm not a big fan of mangoes (and yes, it surprises everyone that I don't like mangoes). This dish was made just for my husband and one of them was gone even before I could plate to upload the picture!




Ingredients:

3 ripe mangoes
1 cup water
1/4 cup jaggery (brown sugar)
2 green chillies, slit
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp maida (flour)
1/2 tsp sasam (black mustard seeds)
1 dried red chilli, cut into 3 pieces (I use Byadgi)
a few curry leaves
oil
salt to taste

How it's made:

Rinse and peel mangoes, set aside. Do not discard peel.
In a mixing bowl, combine mango peel and 1 cup water. Extract  juice out of the mango peel as much as possible. Discard peel and transfer mango juice to the skinned mangoes.
In a sauce pan combine mango, mango juice, green chillies, jaggery and salt. Boil well for 5 mins. Mix flour with a few tsp of water and add to mangoes. Stir until sauce thickens.
In a "phanna davlo" or small frying pan, heat oil. Add mustard. When it splutters, add red chillies and curry leaves. Add seasoning to mangoes. Serve with plain white rice, dalitoy, papad and batate upkari/alsande upkari.




Serves : 3