Daal Makhani - 2

In the earlier version of Dal Makhani, I talked about the the dhaabha version/quick recipe of Dal Makhani. Here is another one that is a little more spicier and tangy. You will find this flavor in executive restaurants serving traditional recipes (sometimes served in Haandi/Matki etc). This preperation method takes A LOT of time so one have to be very patient.

Ingredients

• Black Whole Urad Dal: 2 bowls
• Garlic: 5-6 cloves 
• Ginger: same quantity as Garlic, chopped
• Red onions: 2 medium ( Chopped 1/2 cm Julian)
• Salt: to taste 

For Puree

• Tomatoes: 4-6 medium and blended into a paste
• Desi Ghee: (4 TSP)
• Red Chili Powder: 2 TSP
• Asafoetida (Heeng): 1/4 TSP
• Coriander (Dhaniya) Powder: 1 TSP
• Roasted Cumin Powder: 2-3TSP
• Garam Masala Powder: 2 TSP

For Garnish

• Whipping cream: 1/4 bowl
• Ginger: Julian Cut 10-12 picks
• Whole Green Chili: Slit from center: 4-5
• Red Chili Powder: 1 TSP

Pre-preparation

Wash and Soak the Dal , Cloves and Garlic Chopped in the warm water over night. ( water level should be 2-3 times the depth of dal). In the morning(around 10hrs of soaking) use the same mix of dal and with water and put in a pressure cooker. Add more water to the cooker. Keep in mind it takes a lot of whistles depending on a variety of things. The traditional way is to make Dal Makhani is boiling it in open pot, but that would take a few days to cook (Yes, Few Days). Pressure cooker reduces the time to 7-8 hours of continuous cooking.

Also, chop onions in Julien style with half cm wide. Wash and Soak in water for a few mins to reduce the acidic smell. Check the mixture every 10 whistles. 30 mins interval, open the cooker, stir the mixture(20 mins), add more warm water if the water is less. In between, add the chopped Onions to the mix and let it boil with the Daal. Taste the daal and if you feel more whistles are required, so be it, do it. After 2-3 hours of pressure cooker cooking, open the cooker and add salt, chilli powder.

Let the mixture boil uncovered now for an hour. Stir regularly. In between, use a masher to mash some daal, it will help make the daal thicker. Taste the daal and if you feel more cooking is required, let it stay on flame for 10 more minutes. If you feel salt/spice is less, add it in the puree. like wise if it is more, add less in puree.

Puree Preparation
In a separate open pan, Heat Ghee/Butter in a pan. Add cumin seeds and let them splatter for a few secs. Add Garam masala,  Asafoetida(Heeng), Coriander Powder, Roasted Cumin Powder and let it crackle for few secs. 

Make a fine puree of the tomatoes and add to the pan and stir for a few minutes. Add salt to taste. Add the puree to the Daal. After around 30 mins of cooking the mixture, take the open cooker and transfer the mixture to a wide pan and let it cool. When the mixture is cool enough, put the flame on low heat to keep it warm and add the whipping cream to the mixture and mix it slowly. 

**The mixture should not be too hot while adding the cream. You may chose not to use whipping cream and just add butter to make it tasty.

Turn off the stove and transfer the daal to serving bowl.

Garnish
Heat Butter in a small pan. Add cumin seeds and let them splatter for a few secs. Add green chilis, Red Chilli Powder, Julien cut ginger and let it crackle for a few secs (10-15). 

Use a spoon to spread the garnish the daal in the bowl. Use 1/2 spoons of whipping cream to garnish daal.

I nicely cooked daal goes best with Naan, Rice and almost everything else:-)


Bon apetite 

Bharvan Baingan - Stuffed Eggplants

Here's another one for the Eggplant lovers... a recipe of Bharvan Baingan with a couple of twists.

What you need:

• 6 Baby Eggplants
• 1 Big Red Onion
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• 1 TBSP Coriander seeds (Dhaniya) 
• 1 TSP Mustard seeds
• 1 TBSP Fennel seeds (Saunf)
• 1/2 TSP Fenugreek seeds (Methi)
• 1 TBSP Cumin seeds (Jeera)
• 1 TSP Onion Seeds (Kalounji)
• 2 Dry Red Chilies
• Salt - to taste
• 1 TSP Mango Powder (Amchur)
• 1 TSP Lemon Juice
• 6 TBSP Mustard Oil 

Dry roast all the dry spices (except Amchur, Salt, and Onion Seeds) on a low flame until a nice aroma comes out from them. Let the spice mix cool a bit and then grind it to a fine powder. Finely chop half of the red onion and garlic cloves. Heat 1 TSP of oil in a pan and add garlic. Saute it on a low flame until it turns light brown. Add onions and saute until they become translucent. In a bowl, mix the onions and garlic with the spice powder that we prepared. Add Amchur, Salt to taste, Lemon Juice, and 2 TBSP Oil. Give it a good mix. The oil and lemon juice help in binding the stuffing so that it doesn't fall out of the eggplants later.

Wash the eggplants and slit them partially into quarters. Stuff the eggplants well with the Masala that we prepared. Cut the other half of the red onion into long slices.

Heat the remaining mustard oil in a non-stick pan. When the oil is hot, add onion seeds, and let them crackle a bit. Add the eggplants one by one and arrange them in a way so that each eggplants gets enough space to cook. Do not clutter the pan with too many eggplants. Now add the sliced onions around the eggplants and let them cook on a low flame. Keep turning the eggplants in between to make sure that all the sides get cooked. It might take around 30-45 mins for the eggplants to get cooked completely.

Serve them hot with Lachha Paranthas/Chapatis. You may even have them with rice!

Baingan ka Bharta

After Baingan Pathankoti, here's presenting the best and the most popular dish of Eggplant (Baingan) - Baingan ka Bharta. It's extremely mouth-watering, quick and easy to prepare, and loved even by many eggplant-haters. :-)

Ingredients

• Fresh Eggplant: 1 big or 2 medium-sized
• Red Onions: 1 big (I prefer red onions to white onions in the Bharta)
• Tomatoes: 4 medium-sized
• Green chilis: 3-4
• Cumin (Jeera) seeds: 1 TSP
• Red Chili Powder: 1/2 TSP
• Coriander (Dhaniya) Powder: 1/2 TSP
• Asafoetida (Heeng) - a pinch
• Turmeric (Haldi) Powder: 1/2 TSP
• Salt: to taste
• Garam Masala Powder: 1/2 TSP
• Coriander Leaves
• Butter (to garnish)
• Vegetable Oil - 1 TSP

Preparation

Roast the eggplant on a medium flame till its skin become dark and wrinkled. Keep turning the eggplant frequently over the flame so that it gets roasted evenly. Alternatively, you can also microwave the eggplant in a large microwave-safe bowl for about 15 minutes. before putting the eggplant in the microwave, put horizontal slits on it with a knife otherwise the eggplant will burst (yes, it actually bursts! we're experienced! :D ) After the eggplant is roasted, run cold water over it and peel off its skin and mash its flesh (sounds gross, isn't it?) :-)

Chop the tomatoes and green chilis very finely. You can also microwave the tomatoes for 10 minutes and mash them (we prefer it this way cuz' it cooks faster). Chop the onions into thin slices.

Heat a pan and put oil in it. When the oil is hot enough, put in the cumin seeds, let them splutter, and turn dark brown. Add asafoetida and then add the tomatoes and green chilis. Stir for a few seconds and let the tomatoes cook for a while.

After the tomatoes are fully cooked, add the mashed eggplant. Mix them well, add the remaining spices except salt, and mix again. Add the onions now and mix them well with the eggplant. The reason for adding the onions at the end is to keep them a bit crunchy. Keep stirring the mixture to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. When the onions become pale, add the garam masala and mix well.

Serving

Transfer the Bharta to a serving bowl and garnish it with chopped coriander leaves. Take a small piece of butter, put it in the middle of the Bharta and let it melt. Serve hot with Paranthas!

Daal Makhni

Dal Makhni is one of the popular dishes of Punjab. People cook it with a lot of variations and a variety of ingredients. It's quite rich so the people who're dieting might feel guilty! :P But then, it tastes so good, you'd always feel that you haven't had enough! :)

Ingredients

• Black Whole Urad Dal: 2 bowls
• Black Kidney Beans (Rajma): 1/2 bowl (it's optional though)
• Red onions: 2 medium finely chopped
• Garlic: 5-6 cloves finely chopped
• Ginger: 1 TSP grated
• Green Chilis: 2-3 finely chopped
• Tomatoes: 2-3 medium and blended into a paste
• Whipping cream: 1/2 bowl
• Vegetable Oil: (2 TSP)
• Salt: to taste
• Red Chili Powder: 1/2 TSP
• Turmeric (Haldi) Powder: a pinch
• Asafoetida (Heeng): a pinch
• Coriander (Dhaniya) Powder: 1/2 TSP
• Cumin (Jeera) Seeds: 1/2 TSP
• Whole Garam Masala consisting of Whole Black Cardamom (Badi Elaichi), Cinnamon (Dalchini), Cloves (Laung), and Bay Leaves (Tejpatta)
  OR
  Garam Masala Powder

Pre-preparation


Soak the Dal and Kidney beans overnight. Boil it in a pressure cooker with around 6-7 whistles. The number of whstles required to cook the Dal depends on the quantity of it. If you haven't soaked it overnight, you might have to use a couple of more whistles. Make sure that the Dal is not overcooked. It should becomed soft without getting mashed.


Masala Preparation


Heat oil in a big pan/cooker. If you want the Dal to be richer, you may also prepare the tadka in Ghee or Butter. Add whole garam masala and let it crackle for half a minute. Add cumin seeds and let them splatter till they become dark brown. Add the chopped onions, garlic, ginger, and green chilis. You may also grind onions, garlic, ginger, and green chilis together and prepare a coarse paste. We like them chopped! :)


Saute the mixture till it turns light brown and starts leaving the oil from the sides. Add the tomato paste and stir for a minute.


Dal Preparation


Add the boiled Dal to the mixture and stir well. The density of Dal Makhni is thicker than the normal Dals so add or reduce the amount of water accordingly. Add whipping cream now and let the Dal come to a boil. Reduce the flame now and let the Dal simmer for about half an hour. It is said that the more you simmer the Dal, the tastier it becomes!


Serving


When you feel that the Dal is ready, garnish it with chopped coriander leaves, dry and crushed fenugreek leaves, and some whipping cream. It goes best with Rice or Naans. Enjoy! :)

Bharva Masaledaar Bhindi (Okra)

Divu experimented with Okra (Bhindi) today's dinner and prepared a nice Bharva Masalaedaar Okra dish. It's the stuffed version.

Here's the recipe:


Ingredients

• Fresh Okras: 10-12 pieces
• Red Onion: 1 medium (optional)
• Mustard Oil - 3 TSP
• Coriander leaves (for garnishing)
• Chat Masala (optional - for taste)

Ingredients for the stuffing

• Mango Powder (Amchoor): 2 TSP
• Fennel (Saunf) Powder: 1 TSP
• Cumin (Jeera) Powder: 1/2 TSP
• Salt: to taste and a little less than the actual quantity required for the stuffing
• Red Chilly Powder: 1/2 TSP
• Garam Masala: 1 TSP
• Chat Masala: 1/2 TSP
• Masala of Mango Pickle: 1 TSP (Grannys and Moms make amazing mango pickles and the masala of that pickle will add to the spicy and sour flavor of the masala)

Procedure

For each piece of Okra, slice off both the ends and make a vertical slit, long enough to fill the stuffing. Make sure that you don't end up cutting the Okra piece into two! Keep them aside.

Mix all the ingredients that are needed for the stuffing and mix them well with hands. Make sure that no lumps are formed in the mixture. Add 1 TSP of mustard oil to the mixture and mix it well with your hands. The masala of the pickle will already contain some oil so make sure that you don't add much oil to the mixture. The stuffing should now become paste-like.

Fill the Okras with the stuffing evenly. Make sure that the stuffing is neither too less nor too much.

Heat 2 TSP of mustard oil in a non-stick pan on a medium flame. Add a pinch of asafoetida and salt to the oil and let them sizzle. Place the Okra pieces one by one in the pan. You would now hear the Okra sizzling and smell the mild aroma of the Okra. :)

Cover the Okra and let it cook on a medium flame for 5 minutes. At regular intervals, keep sprinkling very little water on the Okra and tossing them in the pan. This way, the Okra cooks nicely at all sides and remains soft.

After the Okra is cooked, sprinkle some fennel powder on it and mix it well.


Optional
While cooking the Okras, you can cut an onion in thin slices and spread it over the Okra. Let the onion pieces saute for a while. Onion would give an added flavor to the Okra.

Serving

Transfer the Okra to a serving dish and garnish it with chopped coriander leaves. Have it hot with Plain Parantha or Chapatis. Will be good for those who like it with Rice!

Dum Aaloo (Punjabi style)

Potatoes are everyone's favorite and there are loads of yummy dishes that you can prepare using them. One of the yummy dishes is Dum Aaloo, which is prepared by using baby potatoes. We prepared it the Punjabi style yesterday and they turned out real nice - spicy and sour!

Here's the recipe...

Ingredients:

• Baby potatoes: 10-12
• Red onions: 2 big
• Tomatoes: 3-4
• Garlic: 2 buds
• Green chillies: 2-3
• Curd: 1 small bowl
• Cardamom (Elaichi): 2-3
• Cinnamon (Dalchini): 1 stick
• Cloves (Laung): 2-3
• Cumin (Jeera) seeds: 1 TSP
• Red Chilly Powder: 1/2 TSP
• Coriander (Dhaniya) powder: 1/2 TSP
• Turmeric (Haldi) powder: 1/2 TSP
• Garam Masala: 1/2 TSP
• Salt (to taste)
• Coriander leaves (to garnish)
• Vegetable oil (enough to deep fry the potatoes)

Procedure:

Peel the potatoes and keep them soaked in salty water for half an hour. If the size of the potatoes if big, halve them. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the potatoes till they turn very light golden brown. Keep the potatoes aside.

Blend onions, tomatoes, and garlic and green chilly to a coarse paste. Beat the curd in a bowl and keep it aside.

Heat 1 TSP oil in another pan and add cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom. Wait until they start crackling and then add cumin seeds. Let the cumin seeds also crackle and then add the onion-tomato-garlic paste. Cook the mixture on a low flame for 5 mins.

Add red chilly powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, and salt to the mixture and cook it for 1 more min. Enjoy the aroma of the mixture and watch it changing its color. Remove the pan from the flame for a while and add the beaten curd to it. Put the pan back on the flame and cook the mixture for another 5 mins.

Add potatoes to the mixture and let them get soaked in the gravy. Since we've already deep-fried the potatoes, they'd already be soft and wouldn't need much time to get cooked. When the potatoes are nicely cooked and soft enough, add Garam Masala and mix it with the gravy. Make sure that you do not stir the gravy too vigorously to end up with mashed potatoes! :)

Dum Aaloo is ready! Transfer them to a serving dish and garnish them with chopped coriander leaves. You can also crush dry fenugreek leaves and sprinkle them on the top of Dum Aaloo for an extra flavor.

Dum Aaloo go well with Naan, Paranthas, and Pooris. Enjoy!!

Baingan Pathankoti

Brinjal or Eggplant (Baingan) comes in various shapes and sizes. Its most popular dishes are Baingan Bharta and Baghare Baingan (the stuffed preparation). We recenly tried out a new preparation of the Eggplant. It's quite simple and quick to cook and tastes yummy! We call it 'Baingan Pathankoti'. ;-) Pathankot is our home town!


Here's the recipe:


Ingredients:


* Eggplant (Baingan) - 1 big
* Red Onions - 2 medium
* Tomatoes - 3-4 medium
* Finely Chopped Green Chillies - 2-3
* Finely Chopped Garlic - 1 TSP
* Finely Chopped Ginger - 1/2 TSP
* Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1/2 TSP
* Coriander (Dhaniya) powder - 1/2 TSP
* Turmeric (Haldi) - 1/2 TSP
* Mango powder (Amchoor) - 1/2 TSP
* Red Chilly powder - a pinch
* Asafoetida (Heeng) - for flavor
* Salt - to taste
* Chopped Coriander Leaves
* Vegetable oil - enough for deep-frying


Preparation:
Chop the eggplant into 1-inch pieces and put them in water until we do the other preparations. The reason to keep them in water is to avoid the eggplant pieces turning black.


Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the 1" sized eggplant pieces.
Make sure that the oil is not very hot and take the eggplant pieces out after frying them for half a min. The whole idea of deep-frying the eggplant is to make it soft before the final preparation.

Blend onion and tomatoes to make a thick mixture. Should use a blender.

Heat 1-2 TSP oil in a pan, put cumin seeds, and wait till they start crackling. Add chopped ginger, garlic, and green chilies, and sauté them for half a min. Add the onion-tomato paste and let it cook on a low flame for a min. Add coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, and asafoetida. Mix well. You can smell the air filled with the fragrance of North Indian spices. While you enjoy the aroma, the mixture would need a minute to be ready.

Add the deep-fried eggplant pieces and mix them well with the paste. Now we had already fried the eggplant pieces, so the pieces will be very soft and mix very nicely with the spices mixture. Make sure that the gravy is neither very thick nor very watery.
Add salt and cover the mixture and let it cook for about 5 mins. Do not forget to stir the mixture after every minute to prevent the mixture from sticking to the base of the pan. 

Check the eggplant pieces, if they need some more time, it is ok to give it another minute to cook.

Add mango powder in the end and mix well. And finally Garnish the eggplants with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with Plain Paranthas.

Stuffed Bitter Gourd - Karela

There was a time Divu used to hate Karela (Bitter Gourd). After tasting Mom's Stuffed Karela, she started loving them. ;-) And when she decided to prepare it herself, she came up with a combination of Mom's and her Grandmom's recipe. Here's how we made Stuffed Karela:
Ingredients:
• Fresh Bitter Gourds (Karela) - 4 to 5
• Finely chopped Red Onion - 1 medium
• Finely Chopped Garlic - 1 TSP
• Finely Chopped Ginger - 1/2 TSP
• Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1/2 TSP
• Cumiin Seeds Powder - 1 TSP
• Aniseed/ Fennel seed (Saunf) - 1/2 TSP
• Mango powder (Amchoor) - 1/2 TSP
• Turmeric Powder (Haldi) - 1/2 TSP
• Red Chilly powder - 1/2 TSP
• Coriander powder (Dhaniya) - 1/2 TSP
• Salt - to taste
• Asafoetida (Heeng) - for flavor
• Mustard oil - 3-4 TSP

Pre-preparation
Scrape the skin off the Karelas with a knife and keep it aside (make sure you do not peel off the skin). We are going to use the scrapped skin for stuffing, so be careful here.

Mix the scraped skin with salt and keep it for an hour. Rub some salt on the Karelas too and leave it for an hour. The purpose of salt is to reduce the bitterness of the Karela. Skip this step if you like your Karelas to taste bitter.

Preparing the stuffing
Heat 1 TBSP of oil in a pan and saute the chopped onion, garlic, and ginger. Wash the skin of Karelas that we mixed with salt earlier, preferable use a sieve for washing. Rinse the excess water and mix it with the rest of the mixture. Add cumin seeds powder, mango powder, red chilly powder, coriander powder and salt in the mixture. Mix it well on low flame. Keep this mixture aside and let it cool for sometime. We will use it for stuffing.

Preparing Karelas
Wash the Karelas to and on each piece make one longitudinal slit. It will open up the karela from inside, now carefully remove the seeds from it. Stuff the mixture inside the Karelas and make sure that it doesn't come out. You can use a regular sewing thread around the pieces incase karela does not hold the mixture.

Cooking
Heat 2-3 TSP of oil in a non-stick pan. Put some cumin seeds and let them crackle. Put a pinch of Asafoetida and one by one, carefully place Karelas in the pan. Cover the pan and Cook the Karelas on low flame for at least 25-20 mins. In between, keep turning the Karelas to ensure that they get cooked from all sides. The Karelas need to be cooked enough to make their skin soft.

Precautions
Don't overcook Karelas. It will harden and blacken the skin.
Careful with the slit, don’t cut the karela into 2 pieces.
Don’t forget to take off the thread before eating the Karelas.

Methi Matar Malaai

Just before the dinner, at around 8 PM, I felt like having something different and my mind started going back to my bachelorhood days when I used to eat daily at a small restaurant. That was the place where I had made friends with the owner and would always order something off the menu and the chef would always make me the dishes I ordered in the way I wanted them. Of those, one of my favs was Methi Matar Malaai and I made it today. Here's the recipe.


Preparation time: 15-20 Minutes


Ingredients:

• Matar (Green Peas - Fresh or Frozen) - 1 Bowl
• Methi (Fennel Leaves) - 1/4 Bowl - You may chose fresh/dry leaves and if you chose dry, soak in fresh water before use
• Cream/Malai - Half Bowl
• Red Onions - One
• Tomatoes (optional) - One
• Jeera (Cumin seeds), Red chilly powder, Salt, and Kitchen King (a pinch of it for taste)

Procedure:
Heat 1 TSP oil in a pan. When it gets real hot, put cumin seeds in it and let them change their color to dark brown. Add the finely chopped onion and stir fry till they become golden brown. At this stage, you can also add chopped tomatoes (if you wish) to the onions and fry them. Now add the peas and stir for 2-3 mins.

Add the remaining spices, except Kitchen King. We'll save it for the end. Fry the mixture for a min and then cover it to let the peas cook for some time.

After 2 mins, add the fennel leaves and mix them well with the peas. Stir the mixture for 1 more min. You'd now get the nice aroma of the fennel leaves.

Now add cream and mix it properly. Also, add a pinch of Kitchen King to flavor it. Methi Matar Malai is almost ready now. While serving, pour a TSP of ghee on it. Tastes amazing! :-)
Have it with garma-garam fulkas (chapattis), Naan ...slurp slurp!

Besan Kadhi - Simple Quick and Tasty

Most of the time, the young / adults, married or unmarried, are running short of time. Hardly anyone has the patience to spend time in kitchen. For all those enthusiasts (I used to be one of those) who want to eat some good homemade food and that too with minimum effort, here is the simplest dish from my kitchen : Besan (Gram Flour) Ki Kadhi (don't confuse it with Curry).

PS: I am not adding any pakoda's in it, if you prefer, you can prepare pakoda (bhajjhi) separately and then add to the kadhi at the end

Total Time - 10 mins

Ingredients:

Gram Flour: 2 Bowls
Water: 5 Times the Gram Flour
Curd / Yogurt: 2 Bowls
Coriander Seeds: 1 TSP
Red Chilly Powder: 1/2 TSP
Red Dry Chillies: 3 - 4
Turmeric Powder: 3/4 TSP
Asafetida Powder: Pinch of it, as per taste
Salt: Per Taste
Vegetable Oil: 4-5 TSP

Preparation:

0th Min: Mix Gram Flour with 2 bowls of water. Make sure that you get rid of flour lumps if there are any.

1st Min: Heat 2 TSP vegetable oil in a wide pan, and when hot, add coriander seeds, red chilly powder, turmeric powder in it. It would take less than 5-7 seconds for the spices to start blackening,

1 Min: Add the gram flour + water mixture in the pan and stir it for 2-3 mins. Make sure that you constantly stir the whole mixture with a spatula. If you don't, lumps will get formed at the bottom and the whole mixture will have to be dumped. Add remaining water if the lumps are forming and add more if required.

4 Min: Mix the Curd / Yogurt with little amount of water to make a slurry. Add the slurry to the mixture and keep stirring for another 1 min.

5 Min: Add salt to the mixture and keep stirring for sometime.

6 Min: Let the mixture come to a boil. This might take 2 mins.

8 Min: Heat 2 TSP Vegetable oil in a small pan. When the oil becomes super-hot, add some coriander seeds and dry red chillies. It would take a couple of seconds for this 'tadka' to be ready.

9 Min: Pour the 'tadka' over the mixture and your KADHI IS READY.

Serve HOT with fresh cooked Basmati Rice.

Aaloo Achari - on public demand!

So this happened a week ago when Divu was continuously trying out new stuff and happened to try Achari Aaloo as well. They turned out so good the first time that we decided to make it for the next potluck. And this time, I gave her a hand. ;) They tend to become a hit with everyone and people have been asking for its recipe since long. So here it is, on public demand! :)

Ingredients:

• Potatoes (medium-sized, boiled, and cut into wedges - around 1 inch Size ) - 4-5
• Medium-sized Red onions (ground) - 4-5
• Ginger paste - 1 TSP
• Garlic paste - 1 TSP
• Salt, turmeric powder (haldi), red chilly powder, cumin seeds (jeera), mustard seeds (sarson), onion seeds (kalaounji) - all to taste
• Whole red dry chilies - 3-4
• Cooking oil

Keep these two aside as extras for the end :-)

• Sugar (1 TSP)
• Vinegar (1/3 cup)

Procedure:

1. Deep fry the potato wedges in oil till they are golden and keep them aside.
2. Heat one TSP oil in a wok, add onion paste to it, and saute it till it turns brown.
3. Make sure that you stir the paste constantly to avoid overcooking it. We need a light brown color - no dark shades. :) In less moisture, the onions should not take more than 3-4 mins to get the right color, but if the moisture is high, they might take 2 extra mins.
4. Add garlic and ginger paste to it and saute for some more time - around 3-4 mins.
5. Add salt, red chilly powder, turmeric, and then stir for a min ; at this point, the hot mixture should start releasing its fragrance and you can smell the taste :-) "Make sure you don't have runny nose at this time or you would miss some real good fragrances. ;-) "
6. Add the fried potatoes now.
7. Mix the potatoes well with the mixture and add a cup of water to it. We don't want to make the potatoes float and nor do we want them to be dry. So add water appropriately.
8. Let the mixture cook on low flame for 3-4 minutes.
9. Heat 1 TSP of oil in another pan.
10. Add whole red chillies, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, and onion seeds to it.
11. We did not have whole red chillies so we used chilly flakes. :)
12. When the seeds begin to crackle and the chillies turn dark, pour this mixture on the top of the potatoes.
13. Achari Aaloo is ready steady go!

I had earlier asked you to keep Vinegar and Sugar aside; here is why. The above recipe will give you salty Achari Aaloo. If you intend to make it a little sweet to maskofy your "woh" do this:


After step 6-7 (adding water and stirring), mix sugar and vinegar in a separate bowl and add it to the mixture. Stir it for 1-2 mins and then do the remaining steps.

Aaloo Achari would go best with garma-garam pooris, butter naan, and my personal favzz Plain Lachhaa Paranthaazzzz....yummmyyy mummmyy.


Best of Luck and Enjoyzzz!

Friday night Matar Paneer!

It was Friday night and I felt the itch to kick Divu. What's a better way than to kick her out of the kitchen and make something delicious for her! ;-)

In the refrigerator, the poor soul was lying unnoticed since long so I thought of bringing it to life, of course, in My own style! :-) Ohh, I was talking about Paneer!
Paneer or Cottage cheese (We used to say in college - "Paneer is to a Vegetarian what Chicken is to a Non Vegetarian"). As I am a hard-core vegetarian, so my dishes would be strictly vegetarian! :-)

This is what the Paneer looked like after going through an ordeal of 25 minutes. Read on if it tempts you and aspires the chef that's hiding somewhere inside you!

Ingredients:

• Red Onion Chopped / Half Sliced – the way you like it - 1 Big / 2 Small
• Half Sliced Red Tomatoes - 2 to 3
• Fresh / Frozen Green Peas - Half bowl
  (If frozen – soak in water before use for 10 mins)
• Ginger-Garlic Paste - 1 TSP
  Finely chopped / crushed ginger and garlic can also be used)
• Finely chopped Green Chilies - 4 to 5
• Cottage Cheese - ½ Lb (250 gms)
  (Homemade / Fresh Paneer would be the best choice)
• Butter/Oil - 2 TSP
• Desi Ghee - 1 TSP

Spices - Regular:

• Cumin seeds (Jeera) 1½ TSP
• Corianderpowder (Dhaniya) 1 TSP
• Red Chilli powder (Lal Mirch) 1 TSP
• Turmeric powder (Haldi) 1½ TSP
• Salt per your taste (Namak) 1½ TSP for me

Special / Optional:

• Asafoetida powder (Heeng) a pinch
• Kitchen King (Everest / MDH) per your tsaste (I prefer around ¾TSP)
• Coriander leaves (Fresh Dhaniya)

Procedure:

1. Preheat the pan and put butter/oil.
2. Reduce the flame to Sim and throw in cumin seeds. When you hear its churning sound and see them jumping all over the, fry them for half a minute or so, till the color becomes dark brown.
3. Now throw in the ginger-garlic paste and give it a few seconds to turn brown.
   Now it’s for the green chillies to find who is hotter - the pan or chilies themselves!)
4. Throw in half of the chopped Green Chilies in the mixture. Fry them for half a minute.
   
   Do not forget to sir the mixture continuously when it's getting fried.
   

5. Put in the chopped onions now and sauté at medium heat for 3-4 mins – wait for the light brown color to appear.
6. Now put the half-sliced tomatoes and saute` well.
   
   Cover the mix for a min at light flame to let it release some water.

7. Put the rest of the spices and mix well.
   
   Do not crush the tomatoes to save on time - let them release water by itself. Cover the mixture again and let it cook for 2-3 mins at low heat (lesser than Sim). While it's cooking, enjoy the aroma of the Micky's special tadka!
   

8. Put the peas in the mixture and stir well again and increase the heat to Sim.
9. Cover the mixture again and let it cook for 2 minutes. Right now, I am letting the peas absorb some flavored moisture from all the spices!
10. In the meantime, crush the cottage cheese and keep it ready. The mixture will release some more moisture, and if somehow it goes totally dry, you can add some water (half a bowl – not essential).

11. Finally, mix the cottage cheese and stir well at medium heat.
12. Heat it for a min and spread it on the pan.
    At this stage, the yummy Matar Paneer is ready to serve, but I prefer adding the specials now.
13. Sprinkle the Kitchen King and Asafoetida powder over the Matar Paneer and mix it nicely .
14. Micky da matar paneer is ready steady go!

Yummmmzzzz!!!

Serve in a Bowl and Garnish the Matar Paneer with finely chopped Coriander Leaves and a tablespoon full of Desi Ghee!

InJoyzzzzzz!!!