Khao to Jano - Gawar ki Phali

 

Even if we have tried the most fascinating and delicious foods from around the globe, I have experienced that we still come back to our authentic classic food. Cluster beans or gawar (guar) ki phalli is one of the the low calorie, green vegetable widely consumed in North India

 

Ingredients:

 

We start with 1 lbs Gawar ki phalli - cut & washed as shown below.

 

For the Tadka :

• 3-4 Curry Leaves
• ½ Teaspoon Zeera ( Cumin seeds)
• 1 pinch asafetida (Commonly known as Hing)
• 3-4 garlic cloves - cut into small pieces
• 1 medium onion, cut into small pieces and saute till brown in the skillet on medium flame.

Vegetable oil - 3 Teaspoons
Masala:

• 2 Teaspoons coriander powder
• ½ Teaspoon red chili powder
• 1 Teaspoon Garam Masala powder
• ½ Teaspoon turmeric powder
• Salt - per your taste

1 Teaspoon mango powder (Amchoor) / Chat Masala Powder

 

Step : 1   We start with 1 lbs Gawar ki phalli - cut & washed as shown below. Now take one medium onion, cut into small pieces.	Step :2   Heat a skillet and add the vegetable oil and crackle the Curry leaves and the Hing.
Step : 3   Now add Cumin seeds, Garlic pieces and saute till garlic is golden brown. You can soon start getting the aroma of burnt garlic. Make sure that the garlic does not burn and turn red.	Step : 4   Now take one medium onion, cut into small pieces and saute till brown in the skillet on medium flame.
Step : 5 Let it simmer on low flame for 20-25 min ( can be pressure cooked with water just covering it for 3 whistles)	Step:6   Now put all the spices except the amchoor/chat masala and mix it well.
Step :7   Saute for another 5-10 minutes till the phalli is crisp.	Step:8  The yummy Gawar's are ready to eat!

Enjoy this dry entree with Poories or Chapati.

For making the gravy version :         Mix 2 teaspoons of Thick Yogurt (Curd) in 1½ cups of water and mix well. Add a picnh of salt to taste. Add a pinch of Turmeric. Now add 3 teablespoons of Besan and blend well.     Heat Oil in a pan, crackle with Curry leaves, mustard powder and hing. Add the liqiud mix and simmer in heat for 10min, Constantly keep stirring this so that curd does not break away into milk particles.     Now add the dry gawar from above and bring it to a boil and set aside for 5-10 min so that the gravy is absorved in the gawars.       Enjoy this entree with steamed Rice!

Corn Peas Palak

In my go green world of recipes, I was all set to make Palak Paneer today for a couple of my friends.. but found that paneer was not available. I thought of trying out something which I had at home. A brief look around made me realize that I had peas and corn. So here it is .. my accidental recipe which was indeed mouthwatering!

Jayant, Dilip and Pragya... you are ones who can vote for the taste, since you tried it today!!!





Ingredients:

Tadka:
1. Oil - 3-4 table spoons
2. Hing - one pinch
3. Cummin seeds - 1 teaspoon

1. Spinach ( palak ) - 1 bunch ( make a puree with water - 1 cup)
2. Corn - 1/4 cup
3. Peas  -1/4 cup
4. Tomato - 2 medium ( cut in small pieces)
5. Onion - Grated 1 Big
6. Tomato Paste ( 2 teaspoons )






Masala :
1. Garam Masala - 2 teaspoons
2. Ginger Paste  - 1 teaspoon
3. Garlic Paste - 1 teaspoon
4. Coriander Powder - 1 teaspoon
5. Red Chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
6. Salt - per taste


Steps:


1. Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds to crackle. Add the hing powder.

2. Saute the onions till golden brown.

3. Add the tomato and mix well, saute for another 2-3 minutes on high flame and add the masala.

4. Now add the corn and peas to the mix and saute for another 3-4 min

5. Add the pured spinach to the pan and let it simmer for 10 min,

6. Keep mixing it every 2-3 minutes so that it does not stick at the bottom. Turn off the heat once the color starts turning dark.

Enjoy this with nan/ roti/ poori

26 Jan Special -Tiranga Rice

Today is India's 61st Republic day - a special day which commemorates the date on which our current constitution came into force. To celebrate this occasion I decided to make Tiranga special Rice.





Ingredients

1. Long grained Basmati Rice 3 cups
2. 1 small Lemon / 2-3 Teaspoons Lemon Juice
3. 1 bunch Spinach cleaned
4. 5 medium size Carrot - Finely shredded
5. 1 medium sized Onion - thinly sliced
6. Salt to Taste
7. 2 teaspoons of Garam Masala powder
8. A handful of Green Pea
9. Non sweet Coconut flakes (optional)

Tadka

1. 4 Tablespoons of Cummin
2. 3 Tablespoons Indian Ghee / sunflower oil
3. 4 cloves
4. 1 black cardamom
5. 1 Cinnamon wood stick
6. 3 Bayleaves

Saffron White Rice :


Take 2 cups of basmati rice in a bowl and wash it in warm running water. Keep aside the 1 cup for later.

Fill a meduim sized Pan with 2 spoons of Indian Ghee (Sunflower oil can be also substituted here for figure healthy ideas) Put the cumin seeds and when they start to crackle, take out half of these for garnishing later on the rice.Add the thinly sliced onions. Fry them until light brown.

When done take out in a dish 2-3 spoonfuls of this mixture to be used for the other portion of rice which we are not cooking here. Add the 2 cups of washed rice and fry on low flame for 4-5 minutes. Then fill it up with 4 cups of water, add the lemon juice and cover with a lid. Let it cook for 20 min on low flame. Do not stir in between.

When the water has evaporated from the rice we have our aromatic rice ready for more....Slighly fluff the rice with a fork so that it does not stick together.





Saffron colored Rice :

Fry the shreded carrots 2-3 tablespoons of oil , Add salt to taste. Take out half of the rice cooked above and fry with the mixture.. this will change the appearance of the White rice to saffron rice. Fry for 5 min and then set aside.

Note : I have used Saffron food color at times when carrots are not available but this is a more healthy recipe.

Now for the extra yummy and healthy green Rice :

Very carefully clean the spinach ( can use frozen Spinach if you have less time ). Chop the spinatch and in a blender pour the cut spinach. Add salt to taste and water just enough to let it blend. Pour about 2 cup of water and blend it well. Put 2 teaspoons of Garam Masala and blend it well.

 
Now we use the earlier set aside mixture of Oil, cummin seeds and fried Onions and heat them in a skillet. Pour the spinach mix and cook for 2 min.




 Place the remaining 1 cup of basmati rice in the vessel to cook rice, and carefully measure the spinach water to be 2 cups only

Pour this blended spinatch mix in rice. Add some Lemon juice for flavouring. Mix the greenpeas and cover with a lid. Let it cook for 15 min on low flame. Do not stir in between.


When the water has evaporated from the rice we have our aromatic rice Slighly fluff the rice with a fork so that it does not stick together.


For the presentation

In a flat base serving dish carefully place rice in order of the color Saffron, White and green mimicing the Indian flag colors. The green rice can be garnished with finely chopped Coriander leaves and the on the white rice carefully sprinkle the fried cummin seeds to make the circle as shown. Shredd some coconut flakes on white rice, and some carrots on the the saffron rice.


There we have our tiranga special rice !! Enjoy this with boondi Raita.

God Bless India...Jai Hind from one Indian to Another...
Pallavi