Soya chunks recipe

The recipe comes from this blog, which has been featured twice before here. Not surprisingly, this recipe is a winner as well. I followed the recipe almost as such with some substitutions. The resulting delicious soya curry made a lip-smacking combo with wheat parathas!

Soya Chunks Curry

Ingredients (enough for 3-4):
1 1/2 cup Nutrela soya chunks
1 big potato, peeled and chopped into medium-pieces
1 big onion, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 medium tomato, ground to a paste
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp kitchen king powder (or chicken masala powder or garam masala powder)
1/2 tsp jeera
1 green chilli, slit vertically
2 sprigs curry leaves
Fresh coriander leaves for garnish
Salt
Oil

Method:
Preparing the soya chunks:
1. Add sufficient water to a pan, add some salt and bring to a boil.
2. Add in the soya chunks to the boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Remove the soya chunks, squeeze out the excess water and set aside.

Main dish:
1. Use enough oil to coat the base of a pressure cooker. Heat cooker on medium.
2. Toss in the jeera and green chilli. When jeera crackles, add in the curry leaves.
3. Add the ginger-garlic paste and fry for 10-15 seconds.
4. Add in the onions and salt and fry till onions turn translucent.
5. Add in the turmeric, coriander and chili powders and stir for a few seconds.
6. Add in the ground tomatoes and tomato sauce and let cook till tomato paste starts to separate from oil.
7. Boil 3 cups of water in a separate pan and add to the pressure cooker.
8. Close pressure cooker, let it whistle once, bring the flame down to simmer and cook for 8 minutes.
9. Let cooker cool down. Then open lid and add in the kitchen king masala.
10. Simmer for 7 minutes and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
11. Let the curry rest for some time before serving.

Dry Aloo Bhindi (Potato ladies finger)

When we were kids, my sister's favorite veggie was potato while mine was ladies finger (okra). Though I do like potatoes a lot, okra is still probably my most favorite vegetable. I was quite thrilled when I came across this delicious sounding recipe which had both.

Here is my slightly modified take on the recipe. Basically, I cut down on the oil. Non-stick pans and low heat are the friends of low-oil cooking! Quite a delicious side it turned out to be.

Aloo Bhindi

Ingredients (enough for two):
1/4 kg Okra/Ladies Finger/Bhindi
1 medium potato
1/2 tsp sesame seeds (optional)
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp mustard seeds
A pinch hing
Salt
Oil

For coating:
1/4 cup besan
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp kitchen king powder (optional)
1/4 tsp garam masala
3/4 tsp aamchoor
Salt

Mix all the powders above well and keep aside. Use lesser salt than you think is necessary because you will be adding a little salt while cooking the okra.

Method:
1. Wash and pat dry the okra. Remove the tops and ends and slice vertically into halves and then horizontally into halves. Wash and peel the potato and slice into 1 inch fingers.
2. Add enough oil to coat the bottom of a wide non-stick pan.
3. Add the okras to the pan and toss till the pieces are covered with a light film of oil. Spray on a little oil spray if the okra seems a little dry.
4. Toss in the sesame seeds and a little salt and stir well.
5. Spread okra in a single layer on the pan, lower the heat, cover pan with a lid and let okra cook for 5 minutes till it is almost cooked (not mushy).
6. Remove the lid and cook okra in the pan till it is completely done. Use only low heat. Set aside the cooked okra.
7. In the same pan, add enough oil to coat and toss in the mustard seeds and jeera. Add hing when they pop and immediately toss in the potatoes.
8. Cook potatoes the same way as the okra above.
9. When potatoes are done, toss in the cooked okra and mix well.
10. Now add in the coating-powder a few teaspoons at a time, gently stirring the veggies after each addition so that they are evenly coated. Use a little cooking oil spray if the powder seems too dry.
11. Cook on low heat in the uncovered pan till the coating powder loses its raw taste.
12. Adjust for salt and turn off heat.

Serve hot with rotis and dal/raita. Yummy.

Egg roll

For me, egg rolls are the stars of Calcutta street food. When we lived in Calcutta, we used to buy egg rolls on Saturday nights as a weekend as a treat. I have never managed to get quite the same taste at home (obviously). Still, the egg roll recipe below makes a very satisfying and tasty dish with very little effort.

Using maida malabar parottas will take the taste of this dish to an entire new level. However, using wheat rotis is a not-too-bad healthy compromise.

Egg roll

Egg Roll

Ingredients (for one roll):
1 cooked wheat chapathi
1 egg
1/2 small onion, chopped
Lime juice, about 1 tsp
Tomato sauce
Green chilli sauce
Soy sauce
Pepper
Salt

All the ingredients

Method
1. Add the lime juice to the chopped onions and set aside.
2. Spray cooking oil on a tawa and place on medium heat.
3. Place chapathi on heated tawa. Break egg over the chapathi. Spread egg as much as you can over the surface of the chapathi.
4. Sprinkle pepper and salt on the egg (remember soy sauce is salty, so do not go over board with the salt).
5. Carefully flip the chapathi so that the egg side is facing down.
6. Continue cooking on medium heat. When the chapathi rises a bit, it means the eggs are cooked and are fluffing up.
7. Remove the egg coated chapathi from the tawa and place non-egg side down on a plate.
8. Sprinkle the onions in a vertical line across a diameter line of the chapathi.
9. Sprinkle all three sauces over the onions. The quantities of the sauces you use depends on your taste but in general, adding equal amounts of each (around 1-2 tsp each) tastes best.
10. Roll up the chapathi carefully so that the filling does not spill out.
11. If you want the roll to look professional, you can wrap a piece of wax paper or napkin paper around the lower half of the roll so that the filling does not fall out.

Serve hot!

Notes:
1. You can mince about 1/4-1/2 a green chilli and add it to the chopped onion/lime juice mixture. It enhances taste but could turn out to be very spicy if the chillis are fiery!

Applesauce cake

I used to like apples once upon a time. Then, I went to grad school. Apple was the cheapest fruit and as a poor Indian grad student, I ate one as my daily fruit quota religiously for close to 3 years. Then, not surprisingly, I got sick of it. Now, while I can tolerate fresh apples occasionally (read, once in 6 months or so), I cannot eat it on a regular basis. Thus, all apples lovingly brought by visitors took up more and more space on the refrigerator shelf.

So, when sis asked me to bake a cake, I immediately decided that apples would be the base. I first picked a recipe from Good Housekeeping magazine but was unsure of some of the ingredients. Besides, nowadays, unless a recipe has good reviews, I do not try it out (unless, of course, it looks too good even on paper).

Then, I luckily stumbled upon this recipe for applesauce cake. This blog usually features great recipes and this cake did not disappoint either. It was easy to make and the end result was moist, fluffy and delicious.

I adapted the recipe a little. Here it is:

Applesauce Cake

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter (I used 1/4 cup butter and a little less than 1/4 cup oil - use non-flavorful oils like vegetable, canola or sunflower oil)
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup applesauce (recipe below)
1/4 cup yogurt (diluted with a little water and mixed well)
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp slivered almonds


Method
1. Pre-heat oven to 180C. Grease a baking pan and lightly flour it
2. Sift the flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and baking soda together a couple of times. Keep aside.
3. Beat the sugar with butter/oil till light and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one by one, mixing well after adding each egg.
5. Add in the applesauce and the vanilla essence and mix well.
6. Add in half of the dry mixture from step 1 and mix till almost blended.
7. Now add in the yogurt and the rest of the dry mix and stir till just mixed.
8. Pour in the mixture into the prepared pan.
9. Sprinkle the slivered almonds over the top of the cake.
10. Bake immediately for 30 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in various parts of the cake comes out clean.
11. Cool completely on a wire-rack.

Recipe for apple sauce:
Ingredients (makes about a cup)
2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped into medium pieces
1 tsp lemon juice
Water

Method
1. Place apple pieces in a pan and pour enough water to cover.
2. Bring the mixture to a boil and add lemon juice.
3. Cover pan and cook on medium-low heat for about 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Applesauce is done when apples can be easily mashed with the back of a spoon. Water remaining in the pan is okay.
5. Mash the apples with a big spoon or masher till it forms a mixture with little lumps.
6. Applesauce is ready. Cool before using in the above recipe.

Notes
1. You can add sugar/cinnamon powder to the apple-sauce as per your taste. I did not add any for the applesauce I used for the cake.

Cucumber Yoghurt dip

This is a great recipe to beat the summer heat. Can use it as a dip for chips or pita bread or roti or simply eat spoonful by yummy spoonful by itself.

This recipe is loosely based it on the Greek tzatziki - though the ingredients used are fewer and more common in Indian households.

Cucumber Yoghurt Dip

Cucumber yoghurt dip

Ingredients (makes enough for 2):
1 medium cucumber
1/2-3/4 cup of thick yogurt (non-fatfree yogurt tastes best)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium green chili (or to taste)
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
Sea salt to taste

Method:
1. Mix all the ingredients other than the cucumbers well.
2. Peel and chop the cucumber into small pieces and mix well with the yogurt mixture.
3. Adjust salt and serve immediately.

Notes:
1. If you want to prepare the dip beforehand, make and refrigerate the yogurt mix. Stir in the cucumbers just before serving.
2. You can also deseed the cucumbers before chopping.
3. If using as a dip, make sure yoghurt is thick (you can even strain the yogurt to remove as much liquid as possible).

Cold cinnamon chai latte

Drinking hot tea in the hot summer evenings was getting to be a bit too hot for me. Hence the idea of drinking iced tea. Besides adding a delicious flavor to tea, cinnamon has several health benefits too. Thus cinnamon tea became the beverage of choice and me being me, I came up with the quickest and laziest method of making the drink. Only thing is, you need to start an hour before you actually want to drink the tea (or else follow the shortcut listed in notes).

Cinnamon chai latte

Cold cinnamon chai latte

Ingredients (makes 1 cup):
1 cup water
1 tea-bag (black tea like Taj Mahal or Lipton)
Sugar to taste
1/4 - 1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder (start with a quarter tsp and increase per taste)
Milk to taste

Method:
1. Place tea bag in a microwave safe mug and pour water.
2. Microwave for 2 minutes and steep tea for another 4 minutes.
3. Toss out the tea-bag, add in the sugar and stir to dissolve.
4. Place mug in the freezer section of refrigerator for an hour (or till it gets cold enough for you - but don't wait till it turns to ice)!
5. Add in milk, stir.
6. Add in cinnamon powder and stir.
7. If you have one of those hand-held espresso frothers, go ahead and whir it through your drink for about 10 seconds or till the froth forms. Else, simply stir vigorously with a spoon till a froth forms.

Refreshing iced cinnamon tea is ready.

Notes:
1. You could always go ahead and brew tea leaves in boiling water in a saucepan instead of step 1. Like I said, I am lazy.
2. If you are out of time, use only half a cup of water for brewing the tea and then add ice-cubes/very cold water for the rest (I prefer the original way though).
3. You also whiz the tea in a blender for a few seconds after step 6 if you don't have a frother. Again, I am lazy :-).
4. About 3-4 drops of pure vanilla essence can also be added to the tea if you like. Do not use artificial vanilla essence - it will leave a weird bitter aftertaste.

Bagara Baingan (Seasoned Brinjal)

With the advent of summer, cooking, especially in the afternoon is torture. Hence I have taken to either cooking earlier in the mornings or at nights. Today was an exception -I cooked in the late afternoon since I wanted to have a "proper" dinner with phulkas, a side dish and a salad.

Of course, five minutes after lighting the gas-stove and looking like I had just come out from standing under a waterfall, I started having second thoughts. However, I cooled myself with frequent stops under the dining room fan as my bagara baingan cooked.

The recipe is heavily adapted from here.

Bagara Baingan

Brinjals floating in bagara sauce

 Ingredients (makes enough for 3):
6 small brinjals
1 medium onion
2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp peanuts (skin on is ok)
1.5 tsp red chilli powder
1.5 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 cumin powder
1 gooseberry sized tamarind
Salt to taste
Oil
Water

Method (optimized to minimize both time and vessels required):
1. Soak tamarind in 1 cup of warm water.
2. In a wide pan, dry roast peanuts and sesame seeds separately and keep aside.
3. In the same pan, add oil to coat and place on medium heat. Make plus shaped cuts on the brinjals (keeping the stem side intact so that the brinjals are still whole). Add them to the pan, toss around so the brinjals are lightly coated with oil. Cover the pan with a lid and let cook on low heat.
4. In the meantime, grind the peanuts and sesame seeds into a smooth paste with a little water.
5. Chop onions into small sized pieces. Extract the tamarind juice.
6. Check on the brinjals. They should be mostly done (meaning, when pressed the back of a spoon, the spoon should sink in fairly easily. If not, add a tablespoon of water and continue to cover and cook till done. When done, take brinjals out and keep aside.
7. In the same pan, increase heat to medium and add some more oil if insufficient (note, if you had used water in the previous step, wait for it to completely evaporate before you add in any more oil). Toss in the ginger garlic paste and stir-fry for a few seconds.
8. Toss in the onions and salt and cook till onions turn golden brown.
9. Add in the peanut-sesame paste and fry till raw smell disappears.
10. Toss in the masala powders and stir fry for a few seconds.
11. Add in the extracted tamarind juice and 1 cup of water. Mix well.
12. Add in the brinjals gently (so they don't break).
13. Cover and cook for 5-10 minutes.
14. Adjust for salt and garnish with coriander leaves.
15. Let rest for atleast 10 minutes and serve hot with rotis or rice.

Quick masala egg scramble

When you don't have the time or the patience to cook, here is a simple recipe for a side-dish which goes well with rotis.

Ingredients (enough for a generous portion for 1):
1 egg
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 green chilli, slit vertically and then chopped into 2
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp aamchur (or chat masala)
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
Salt to taste
Oil

Method:
1. Heat oil in a frying pan on medium heat
2. Drop in the green chilli and toast till white spots appear on it.
3. Add in the onions and salt and fry till golden brown.
4. Toss in the tomatoes and cook till mostly mushy.
5. Add all the masala powders and stir for a minute.
6. Break in the egg and mix till egg is scrambled and mixed with the rest of the ingredients.
7. Cook till eggs are done (about 1-2 minutes).
8. Adjust for salt, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Surprisingly delicious!

Potato Kurma

The other day, before the weekly shopping round, I only had a few potatoes, onions and tomatoes which could respectably call themselves vegetables. I wanted to make kurma and hence potato-kurma was a no brainer. I got this recipe from the same blog that featured the tasty kadala curry in the previous post.

Potato Kurma

The potato kurma was easy to make. I once again reduced the amount of coconut. The green chillis I used turned out to be way too spicy but otherwise the kurma was yummy. The last bit of seasoning with the onions and the cilantro was a great touch! It made the kurma visually appealing besides adding a nice oniony crunch. And oh, I also added a couple of whole boiled eggs sauteed in a bit of salt and pepper. Made a plus shaped slit on top of the eggs reaching half way before adding them in.

Kadala curry

Puttu and kadala curry is a famous breakfast combo in Kerala. While I have never had these two items together, I have made kadala curry a couple of times. I found an awesome recipe here.

Kadala Curry

I just made a couple of changes to the recipe. I reduced the amount of coconut to about 1/3rd of a cup. Correspondingly I reduced the amount of peppercorns to about 3/4th of a teaspoon though in retrospect I think maybe 1/2 teaspoon would have been enough even. Everything else was exactly the same as given in the recipe.

In case you are wondering like I did, 1 cup of dried kale channa translates to about 3 cups of cooked kale channa. The original recipe calls f or 3 cups of cooked kale channa.

The recipe made a lip-smacking combo with aapam and dosa.

Easy chicken biryani

This recipe makes tasty chicken biryani. As an added bonus, it is quite easy to make. I was quite thrilled when I put the lid on the pan for the last bit of cooking and realized that I had not spent much time over the stove. The secret to that was using oil liberally (still not as liberal as the recipe suggested). Now I realize why restaurants have such a free hand with oil and ghee!

I followed the recipe exactly as is except for these alterations:
1. Added 1 slit green chilli to the seasoning items.
2. Cut down the recipe to use 2 cups of basmati rice rather than 3 cups and scaled the rest of the ingredients accordingly.
3. I cooked basmati rice till it started boiling in the electric rice cooker.I also added a bay leaf to the basmati rice along with the water and salt before cooking.
4. Since Indian gas-stoves do not have the "very low" temperature setting, I heated a tawa on high, then reduced the heat to the lowest setting and placed the dutch oven containing the layered chicken and the rice on top of the tawa for the last stage of cooking.
5. After turning off the stove, I left the dutch oven covered for 10 more minutes before opening the lid and mixing the chicken and rice together.

This recipe is dedicated to my sis who recently wrote about her rather interesting experience making chicken biryani :-).