Shrikhand

A month beginning with notes of celebration. Now be it Eid, Ganesh Chaturthi or the Labour day weekend that you may be enjoying with your family,here's a super simple recipe of the most delectable dessert that tops my list of the sinful ten.

Shrikhand is Indian sweetened saffron yogurt, eaten on its own or sometimes with puris /deep fried bread.Traditionally, curd or plain yogurt is hung in a cheese cloth for 7-8 hours or overnight and flavored the next day with some aromatics. Like a blank canvass, you can bring your own spin to this basic recipe that i present by adding cubed fruits or fruit pulp.

Malai Kofta (Potato croquettes in gravy)

A rich creamy dish for a special day, well that is what i had in mind when i used to make it for my friends a decade or more back!  Sweet days where we could accommodate shopping, movies and even a hand at cooking in the middle of reading a book on micro economics. Days of extreme time management i must say ;)

You can look at Malai koftas as the distant vegetarian relatives of the Italian meatballs, eaten along with rice or naan. The croquettes or koftas can be served in red or white gravy, personally preferring the white i detail the recipe for the same.

Dal Makhani (Lentils in cream)

A perfect blanket for the cold winters, the recipe will warm your heart and envelope your soul in its smooth astounding flavors!

A stew of sorts, traditionally this dal requires cooking on low flame /charcoals for hours to lend the creamy flavor. But today, along with cooking it low and slow in our modern kitchens , dollops of cream and butter also lend to its buttery texture. 

Baingan Bhartha (Indian Baba ganoush)

I wanted to have something down home rustic, smoky and truly tongue tantalizing. For a full bodied flavor, i picked a juicy jumbo eggplant/ aubergine or baingan as we call it back in India. This dish in particular is called "Baingan ka bharta". Ah my  mouth is  watering already, so hitting the recipe straight.

Stuffed Bitter gourd /Karela

My mom makes these often , so i have had them for my whole life... but there is something to this recipe that never let the flavors out of fashion. Gourds for some do not ring appetising but i'll say try this family favorite  and maybe you discover your refined palate finally :)

Spinach with cottage cheese ~ Palak paneer

A favorite North Indian main course eaten with naan or roti. .

Recently i had my cousin cook this for us. The extra love to his recipe was the use of nutmeg powder and here's my take on the dish very much inspired by him.

Serves- 8

Ingredients:
2 Fresh bunches of spinach, cleaned blanched and grounded
2 big red onions, halfed and then cut in thirds
6-9 cloves  of garlic, sliced thin
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
2 green chillies , slit and quartered
2-3  roma tomatoes, cubed
1 tsp tomato ketchup
Paneer/ cottage cheese, cubed and sauteed
1/2 a lemon. deseeded

For the masala/ gravy :
1/2 tsp ghee / clarified butter
2 tsp canola oil
11/2 tsp nutmeg powder
half a stick of cinnamon
1-2 green cardamoms
2 bay leaves
2 cloves
1 tsp whole cumin seeds
1/2 tsp ground roasted cumin powder
3/4 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground coriander powder
salt to taste
4-5 tsp half and half cream

Take a small pan with the ghee and heat. Add whole cumin seeds,cloves, bay leaf, cinnamon stick , cardamoms. Let the cumin splutter, remove from heat. Take a deep bigger pan now and add onions, garlic , ginger and  chillies - saute on high heat till brown and caramelized.Mix nutmeg powder. Add the small pan whole masala to the bigger pan.Now to the bigger pan add the cubed tomatoes , mix and simmer. After 5-10 mins , add ketchup. Now add rest of the spices. Mix and cook for 10-12 minutes till a film of oil surfaces adding a sprinkle of water in between if needed.

Mix cooked grounded spinach and sauteed cottage cheese pieces. Add half and half cream and mix. Cook till  a boil and remove from heat. Add lemon juice.

And vala, the dish is done.

Fragrant and worth the effort. Yum.

Tip : To keep spinach or any other vegetable green -- make sure as the chlorophyll cooks , the carbon dioxide filled steam so created either escapes the pot by keeping the lid open or u blanch  in loads of salted water ( 1oz of salt per 4 cups of water) as the salt creates a wall around the spinach and thus stops the carbon dioxide from interacting with the vegetable.

Red split gram ~ Masoor ki daal

Lentils or daal as it is called in India is a very important source of proteins in a vegetarian diet.

Lentils are mild and earthy so mostly they are cooked with some assertive flavorings but at times so much so that the spices overpower the mild soothing taste of the star ingredient -"daal". So here, i have tried to make the dish with minimal yet perfectly complementary condiments such that one can savour every spoonful of the magical symphony so created. My idea is for you to explore and relish the clean simple yet the complex rendezvous of flavors in this dish.

To draw an analogy, you are an artist who truly appreciates a random stroke of a bright vibrant color on a blank canvass, to get consumed by this dish.

Red split gram in particular is a skinned, salmon-coloured lentil which cooks very quickly and turns golden when done.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup red split gram , cleaned & washed

For Tadka/ frying:

11/2 tsp canola oil

3/4 tsp whole cumin seeds

1 clove of garlic, grated

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

less than 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder

salt to taste

Garnish:

Cilantro/ coriander leaves

Juice of half a lemon

The recipe is made in a pressure cooker but in case if u dont have one , use any vessel with a heavy top.

Put the oil in the cooker on medium heat, let it rise to a temperature half way to its smoking point. Add cumin, grated garlic, stir so that the garlic doesnt stick and burn . Let the cumin pop. Now add the red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt -- stir and add a sprinkle of water so that the spices do not burn.

Once u see a film of oil over the tadka/ spices, add the washed red split gram . Stir and add 1/2 cup of water (My personal measure is a water level above the lentils about 1/3rd the length of my index finger)

Close the cooker and bring the stove to high heat. Remove when the cooker whistles once. Let it sit for some time and then open. In case if you are using a vessel, check if the daal is done by pressing it against the vessel walls-- if it gives in and mushes , its done. 

Importantly, serve with a green garnish of cilantro leaves and lemon juice.  Yum!!

Tip: To keep green leafy vegetables intact for long, Drain excess water if any and wrap them in a thick tissue cloth/ paper to be stored in a ziplock in the refrigerator.

Spicy roasted eggplant ~Tawa fry bengan

Weekly grocery shopping lands me with eggplants more often than not. The only way i knew how to make them was how we ate at the dinners held at my grandma's place - oily spicy garlicy good. We frequently called the latter the rajputi bengans- fiery red and bold flavoured. I wondered a week back though, if the latter could be made more figure friendly. So here's my take on one of my favourite vegetables. A guilty awesomeness then, made yummy and healthy now.

Star ingredient :

4-5 baby eggplants

For the masala/ spices :

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp ground coriander powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

few drops of water

lemon juice

For the tadka /frying :

2-3 tsp canola oil

pinch of asofetida

To start - slit the eggplants lengthwise twice ,at a criss cross leaving the stem intact.

Mix all the masala and help combine with drops of water to make a thick paste. Take some paste and rub in between the eggplant slits. Less is more, so dont overwork the paste in between slits.

Take a nonstick pan- put 11/2 tsp oil , let it heat on medium to high. Remember eggplant acts like a sponge so put only the minimum required oil at first, adding more if the masala sticks. Once the oil is well heated add asofetida. Place each eggplant rubbed with masala in the pan (the stove is still on medium to high) , sprinkle some coarse salt for better roasting. Roast them for 2- mins each side on high heat, till a crust is formed. Once roasted , sprinkle some water (less is more) and cover. Steam them for 3-4 mins, turning them in between. Once done close the stove and keep them covered.

After 2-3 mins , uncover and sprinkle some lemon juice on the eggplants and serve with a garnish of coriander leaves.

Tip: Never crowd your pan when roasting. Take a bigger pan or roast in batches.