My First Party!!!!

We had a few people over to our house for lunch yesterday and here's the menu. Recipes follow...

Curry Puff Rolls

Potato Curry

Sambar

Tamarind Rice

Yogurt

Papad

Tomato Pickle -- My mother-in-law made this for us in India, I'll have to get the recipe from her.

Mango Pickle -- My grandma made this.

Gulab Jaamon -- I'm not any good at making desserts, so mom made these for me. They were delicious, I'll post a recipe later.

Tamarind Rice

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 cups Cooked Rice
3 to 4 tsp Tamarind Paste
2 tsp Turmeric Powder
4 Curry Leaves
4 Green Chillies - cut lengthwise
handful Peanuts
3 tbsp Oil
Salt

TADKA

Mustard Seeds
Jeera
Urid Dal
Channa Dal
4 Red Chillies

PROCEDURE

In a flat pan, gently mix the cooked rice with 1 tbsp oil and salt until everything is well mixed. Let this sit for 10 minutes.

In a small pan, add the remaining 2 tbsp of oil and the tadka ingredients, minus the red chillies. When the dal browns and the mustard seeds splutter add the red chillies, green chillies, curry leaves and turmeric powder. Once all of this is mixed well, add the peanuts and tamarind paste and let it all cook well.

Add this mixture to the cooked rice and mix everything evenly.

If the rice isn't sour enough, lime juice can be added to reach the desired taste.

Curry Puff Rolls

INGREDIENTS

two sheets Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastries
4 large Potatoes - boiled and cubed
1/2 Onion - finely chopped
3 tbsp Red Pepper Flakes
1/2 tsp Tumeric Powder
Salt
1 tsp Ginger/Garlic Paste
Oil

PROCEDURE

Heat oil in a pan, add the onion and let them soften. Add the ginger/garlic paste. Now add the potatoes, salt, tumeric powder and red pepper flakes. Mix well. This mixture can be stored in a refrigerator or eaten as a curry.


When you are ready to make the curry puff rolls: take the pastry sheets out and let them thaw for 45 minutes. Cut each sheet lengthwise into 2, for a total for 4 pieces. Add a qaurter of the currey onto each sheet and run the sheet into a roll. Cut into the desired size.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees, place the cut rolls onto a piece of aluminum foil and let the rolls cook until for about 15 minutes or until the puffs brown.

Serve warm with coriander or date/tamarind chutney or just ketchup.

Sambar

INGREDIENTS

1/2 medium Onion - cut into thin strips
2 medium Totamtoes - cubed
1/2 medium Carrot - cut into thin strips
4 cut frozen Drumsticks
1/4 cut Bottlegourd
2 Green Chillies - cut lengthwise
4 Curry Leaves
2 to 4 tsp Tamarind Paste
1 cup Toor Dal
61/2 cups Water
1 tsp Tumeric
Sambar Powder
Salt to Taste

TADKA

Mustard Seeds
Jeera
3 Red Chillies

PROCEDURE

First cook the toor dal in a pressure cooker with 2 cups water and tumeric.

In a microwave safe bowl, add carrots, drumsticks, and bottlegourd in a 1/2 cup water and cook them in the microwave for 5 minutes.

In the mean time, in a cooking pot, heat the oil and add all the tadka items. When the mustard splutters, add the onion, green chillies and curry leaves and let the onion soften. Now add the tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes look done. Now add the microwaved vegetables. Add tumeric, and a 1/4 tsp salt, and 1 cup water. Red Chilli Powder can also be added at this time, is you like your sambar spicier. Cover and let this water come to a boil, this will ensure that the vegetables are thoroughly cooked. Now add the tamarind paste, the cooked toor dal, 3 cups water, salt to taste, and the sambar powder. Let it all come to a boil.
Garnish with chopped cilantro (optional).
Serve with rice.

Potato Curry

INGREDIENTS

1/2 large Onion - finely chopped
4 large Potatoes - boiled and cubed
a small bunch Cilantro - finely chopped

1 tsp Ginger/Garlic Paste
1 tbsp Red Chilli Powder
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
Salt to taste
2 tbsp Oil

TADKA

Jeera
Channa Dal
2 Red Chillies

PROCEDURE

Heat a pan with the oil and add the tadka ingredients. Once the dal browns, add the chopped onion and let it soften. Now add the ginger/garlic paste, boiled potatoes, turmeric, salt and red chilli powder. Mix well with the chopped cilantro and add more chopped cilantro on top to garnish.

Serve with rice and/or roti.

Besan Ka Cheela

I've been making to make this recipe from Sagari's Besan Ka Cheela for a very long time. I am glad I waited because now there is proof that I've tired it. The pictures didn't turn out as great as Sagari's, but the Besan Ka Cheelas were delicious! Thanks, Sagari!

Here are my modifications.:

I didn't have any corn flour or chat masala at home. I substituted the chat masala with channa masala, used only half an onion and tomato and didn't use any fresh cilantro leaves. Everything else is the same as the original recipe.

Tiranga

No, we didn't cook/eat the flag!!!!

I had some chopped carrots and green peppers in the freezer and 2 medium potatoes. None of them, on their own, would make enough curry for both of us. So I decided to combine them all.

INGREDIENTS

3 Small Carrots

1 and 1/2 Green Peppers

2 Medium Potatoes

1/2 Medium Onion

1 and 1/2 tsp Ginger/Garlic Paste

1/2 tsp Tumeric Powder

2 tsp Salt

1 tbsp Chilli Powder

1 tbsp Garam Masala

1/4 cup Milk

Few drops Lime Juice

TADKA (optional)

Mustard Seeds
Jeera

Urad Dal

Channa Dal

2 Red Chillies

a pinch Hing

PREPARATION

Run the frozen green peppers and carrots under warm water and chop the potatoes into small cubes. Put all three of these in a microwave safe bowl and put the bowl in the microwave for 5 minutes.

In the mean time, finely chop the onion and heat oil in a pan. Once the oil heats, add the optional tadka ingredients. Once, the mustard seeds splutter, add the chopped onion. After the onion get soft, add the ginger/garlic paste and cook until the raw smell goes away. Then add the microwaved vegetables. Doesn't it look like the Indian flag?

Let the veggies cook for about 5 minutes or until the pieces are tender. Add the tumeric powder, salt, chilli powder and garam masala powder. Mix well and cook for a further 2 minutes.

It is now time to add the milk and the lime juice. Freshly sqeezed lime is fine, but I generally tend to use lime juice from the bottle because it stores better than a real lime.

Done!!! Serve with rice or roti or both.

Tindora Fry

Well, as promised! Here's that first blog.
I love fried food. I know it isn't good for me, but it's still delicious.
One of my all time favorites is Tindora (Dondakai) Fry.
Here's the version mom taught me, with a few modifications made by my husband.

INGREDIENTS

Tindora - 1/2 lb

Tumeric - a pinch

Salt - to taste

Chilli Powder - to taste

Oil

TADKA

Mustard Seeds

Cumin Seeds

Urad Dal

Channa Dal

MASALA

Garam Masala - 1 tbsp

Cumin Powder - 1 tbsp

Coriander (Dhania) Powder - 1 tbsp

PREPARATION

I usually like to take time on the weekends to chop up all my vegetables and freeze them. This way I can pick what I want during the week and use it without the hassle of chopping the vegetables.

I generally chop the tindora fine, so that it fries better, but since my husband and I have taken to eating rotis and fries don't go well with that, I decided to make rounds this time.

After I take the tindora out of the freezer, give it a good wash under warm water, this will help separate the pieces.

In a pan, add about 2 tbsp of oil, on medium heat. When the oil is heated add the tadka ingredients. Once the mustard seeds splutter and the dals brown, add the tindora pieces. For faster cooking, put the tindora in the microwave for about 5 mins.

Cover the pan immediately, so that the water from the frozen tindora doesn't splatter every where. Once the water has reduced, the lid can be removed and you can now fry the curry.

If you like a wet curry, you can keep the lid on for the entire process.

Once the pieces brown, add tumeric, salt, chilli powder and mix well.

For those who like the masala taste, you can also add the masala ingredients to your liking.

The end product will look something like the first picture.

Serve with roti or rice.

Welcome!!!

Since my husband and I both work, and only get the weekend to relax, I haven't had a chance to cook anything significant enough to be my first post. I plan to cook something today, take pictures and get started on this blog journey.