Kadhi Chawal (Kadhi with Rice)

Punjabis consume rice occasionally with rajma, chole or kadhi. Kadhi and chawal is a combination to die for and it is very easy to make. However it is not made so often at home due to the inavailability of sour curd. Pakodis (dumplings made out of gram flour) are generally added to kadhi which is why the dish is often referred to as kadhi pakodi also. Alternatively, if you want to avoid the deep fried pakodi, you can use potatoes in kadhi. Pakodis can be made in an umpteen ways. I have described here pakodis made out of onion. For the chawal, basmati (long grained) rice is the best bet.

Ingredients for kadhi

• Curd (preferably sour) - 1 litre
• Gram flour (besan) - 5 heaped tbsp
• Onion - 1 large - chopped lengthwise
• Green chillies - 2 chopped
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
• Garam masala - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Mustard oil - 4 tbsp
• Fenugreek (methi) seeds - 1 tsp
• Curry leaves - 1 tbsp - chopped
• Salt as required
• Potatoes - 2 medium - chopped into thin square slices (optional ingredient if you are not using pakodis)

Method for kadhi

• Mix curd, besan, salt, turmeric, chilli, coriander and garam masala powders and beat well so that no lumps are formed.
• Add water (1 cup) to make the mixture thin.
  
• In a cooker or heavy bottom kadhai, heat mustard oil, splutter the methi seeds and add chopped curry leaves.
• Saute onion and green chillies in high heat with a little salt till the onion becomes translucent.
• (Optional step) Add the potato slices and stir till it is moderately cooked.
• Add the curd besan mixture.
  
• Mix well and boil for an hour in low heat. If you are using cooker, use the lid with out the whistle.
• Make sure that you stir the mixture occasionally.
  

Ingredients for pakodi

• Besan - 1 cup
• Onion - 1 medium - chopped fine
• Ajwain - 1 tsp
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Salt as required
• Oil for deep frying
  

Method for pakodi

• Mix besan, chilli powder, salt and ajwain, with water enough to make a thick paste.
• Mix onion to the paste and make small balls out of it and deep fry them.
• When the pakodis are done, add to kadhi and simmer for 5 minutes.

Tips

• Kadhi gets thicker with time. So make it for lunch along side rice and try it with roti or parantha for dinner (yeah of course if you've any left for dinner ;) )
  

Curried Rajma (Kidney Beans)

All beans have an unhappy reputation of causing embarrassment after gorging on them. Well you know what I mean. A quick look up suggested what might be happening at the back end. The smelly gas caused by beans "consists mainly of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, is the byproduct of bacteria in the intestine breaking down the complex carbohydrates in the beans". Soy beans topped the list.

Apparently cooking with ginger alleviates the problem to a good extent. Eat beans more often and you body sure will get accustomed to it.

Rajma chawal (Rajma with rice) is a Punjabi delight usually made on a Sunday. It probably is every north indian's delight. I just discovered that a bowl of kidney beans and rice has become a traditional lunch in New Orleans on Mondays. Interesting!

I must confess here, my rajma never gets closer to the one my mom-in-law makes. She hints that she never soaks it. That means thrice the cooking time. I believe it is an indulgence. If you too believe in saving resources, you may soak the beans for a neat 4 hours at least. However if it was an impromptu decision you might try soaking the beans in boiling water in a thermos for 2 hours.

Let's get to the recipe now.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• Rajma - pale brown coloured - 2 cups soaked. (the maroon shaded variety of Rajma takes longer time to cook)
• Ginger - 2 inches
• Green chillies - 3
  
• Onion - 2 Large chopped coarsely for grinding
  
• Tomato - 4 medium or 3 Large (halved and grated to get the pulp)
  
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander leaves - 4 tbsp chopped
• Fresh cream - 2 tbsp
• Oil - 6 tbsp
• Salt as required
  

Method

• Grind Onion, ginger and green chillies together
• Heat oil in a pressure cooker and saute the mixture in high heat, adding 1 tsp salt to it, till it turns a shade brown
• Add the chilli powder and mix well
• Add the tomato pulp and keep stirring for 5 minutes in high heat.
• Add the soaked rajma along with the water used to soak it
• Add the chopped coriander leaves and the cream
• Add enough water to make the mixture thin in consistency (Probably I will measure the amount and update the blog later)
• Pressure cook in high heat for one whistle and then simmer for half an hour.
• Allow the cooker to cool and serve with hot basmati rice
  

Baingan Fry

Ingredients

• Baingan (Brinjal) - thin long purple ones - 250 gms
• Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
• Coriander powder - 2 tsp
• Dried mango powder (amchur) - 1/2 tsp
• Sugar - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - 1 1/4 tsp (or as required)
• Lemon juice - 1/2 - 1 lemon
• Oil - 3 tbsp
  

Method

• Mix all the above powders with lemon juice to make a thick paste
  
• Wash, chop off the ends and slit brinjals lengthwise
• Fill the paste in the brinjals
• In a slightly deep flat pan, heat the oil and put the marinated brinjals and stir fry for a minute
• Close the pan tightly and cook for 5 - 7 minutes, stirring occasionally

Anar (Pomegranate) Raita

It's of course a yummy thing. But more than anything, it is very visually appealing. Take a look, isn't it just refreshing?

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• Pomegranate - 1 medium or large
• Curd - 500 ml
• Cumin seeds - Roasted and powdered - 1 tsp
• Pepper - crushed or powdered - 1 tsp
• Salt - as required
• A pinch of chilli powder (optional)
  
• Corainder leaves - 1 tbsp chopped
  

Method

• Beat the curd
  
• Add the cumin, pepper and salt
  
• Add the pomegranate seeds, save some for garnishing.
• Mix well
• Garnish with the remaining pomegranate seeds, coriander leaves
• Sprinkle a pinch of chilli powder (optional)
• Serve chilled
  

Carrot Soup

It's red carrots every where these days, even in the vegetable compartment in my refrigerator. It comes very cheap in winters. So this time around every year I always have them in surplus.

That says a word about my husband's love for the vegetable!

What do I do with them? Oh I make several things out of it right from salad to dessert. This time all I wanted was to get rid of at least a bunch of them, but of course in an easier, healthier, less time consuming way.

My husband has a thing for 'healthy stuff'. So I decided to make some nice soup out of all those carrots and here is how...

Ingredients (serves 4 people)

• Carrots (Red or Orange) - 400 gms or 5 - 6 medium sized - cubed
• Potato - 1 large - cubed
• Butter - 2 tbsp
  
• Coriander Leaves - 2 tbsp ground paste - coarse or fine - doesn't really matter
• Black pepper - coarsely ground or crushed - 1 tbsp
  
• Salt - as required
• Sugar - 1/2 tbsp

Method

• In a cooker, heat 1 tbsp butter and add the carrots and potatoes to it. Stir fry for a minute
  
• Add around 3 - 4 tea cups of water (around 700 ml)
  
• Pressure cook for 2 whistles in high heat.
• Once it cools down, blend and strain
• In a pan, heat the rest of the butter and saute the coriander paste for 30 seconds
• Add the strained vegetable mixture
• Add sugar, salt and pepper
• Bring to boil and then simmer for a minute or two.

Tips

• More the pepper, better the flavour. So you can sprinkle some ground pepper while serving too
• If you like your soup to be meaty, go ahead and add some bread croutons
• And finally I still have some more carrots left. Would you like to try them for free ;)
  

Dal Makhni

Dal Makhni, though complex it may sound, in fact is one the easiest you can make. I've had many people exclaim to me "Oh you know to make Dal Makhni!" and many even go on to tease if I add coconut in it ;)

Make sure that you soak the dals atleast for 4 hours. If you don't have enough time boil water and soak the dal for 1 - 2 hrs.

The best thing about this makhni dal is it gets better with time. So if you can make it and leave it for some hours, it is going to taste better.

Ingredients

• Whole Urad dal (black lentil) - 1 cup
  
• Rajma - 1 fistful
• Fresh cream - 1/4 - 1/2 cup
• Onion - 3 medium chopped fine
  
• Ginger - 1 inch chopped fine or crushed
  
• Garlic - 3 large pods chopped fine or crushed
  
• Green chillies - 3-4 coarsely chopped
• Tomato - 2 medim chopped fine
• Coriander leaves - 3 tbsp
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
  
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Cumin (Jeera) powder - 1 tsp
• Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - as required
• Butter - one chunk (optional)
  

Method

• Pressure cook the urad dal and rajma together. Let the water stand 2 inches above the dals. Give one whistle in high heat. Lower the heat and cook for 30 minutes. Once the cooker cools down, add the cream to it and mix well. The liquid will have a sticky texture
  
• Meanwhile heat oil, splutter jeera, add chopped onions, ginger, garlic, green chillies and salt
• Saute in high heat till onion turns brown and transparent
• Add chopped tomatoes and saute till the oil separates
• Add all the powders and mix properly
• Add this to the cooked dal
  
• Add the coriander leaves
• Put the butter chunk if required

Tips

• If the dal is too thick or if you want to improve the consistency, you can add some milk to it
  

Aalu Palak (Spinach and Potato)

As a kid I detested eating leaves. My father would tell stories about how Popeye consumed it and grew stronger. And my mom would go technical, why I should be eating a lot of this leafy green. It took me 26 years to consider spinach as a part of my diet. If it sounded anything familiar, I must say spinach can taste great too.

This recipe is my discovery of spinach. The recipe is simple and I make it at least once in 3 weeks or so. But yeah cleaning the stuff might be a little time consuming. There are some handy hints on cleaning palak towards the end of this post.



Ingredients

• Spinach - Washed and chopped 3-4 cups
• Potato - 1 Large diced
• Tomato - 1 Large chopped coarsely
• Onion - 1 Large - 1/4 chopped fine and 3/4 chopped long
  
• Garlic - 8 - 10 pods
  
• Green chillies - 3-4
  
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
• Salt and oil as required

Method

• Crush garlic and green chillies together
• Heat oil and saute the crushed garlic, green chillies and the onions
• Add potatoes, turmeric and chilli powders, mix well
• Add tomatoes, saute for 2 minutes
• Add spinach, mix well and cook covered. Make sure that no water is added
• When cooked, heat oil, splutter jeera, saute onion and add to the cooked dish and mix well

Tips

• The easiest way to wash spinach is to put it into a sink filled with cold water. Swish leaves around, drain the water off. Repeat the process thrice.