chapathi’s sides

Cauliflower Gravy

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Today, I have given you a recipe that I learned from my MIL. It is the Cauliflower Gravy. This is my third recipe with cauliflower as the main ingredient (the other two are Cauliflower Crust Bread and Cauliflower Fry). I have heard about this dish often from my HB. He always says that it tastes like chicken gravy but I did not get a chance to taste it until recently. And I totally agree with my HB’s assumption. It does taste like Chicken gravy!

034cCauliflower Gravy is a very easy dish to make and one of the main ingredients in preparing this dish, other than cauliflower, is raw rice water (further explanation about it can be found here) and roasted gram dal powder. Cauliflower Gravy can be had with almost all main entree dishes. It can be had with just rice, as a side dish for chappati or eat as is :). No wonder it is one of the most favorite dishes of my HB.

Try this wonderful and very tasty dish in your kitchen and do let me know your thoughts.  🙂

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Cauliflower Gravy
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 20
 
Ingredients
  • Oil – 1 tbsp
  • Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
  • Curry leaves – 6 nos
  • Shallots, finely chopped – 6 nos
  • Sambar powder or veetu milagai podi – 1 ½ tbsp
  • Raw rice water or kalani thanni – 2 to 3 cups
  • Cauliflower, medium, blanched – 1 no or 2 cups
  • Salt as required
  • Roasted gram dal powder or pottu kadalai podi – 1 tbsp
Instructions
  1. Boil enough water with salt and turmeric powder and blanche the cauliflower florets for couple of minutes. Strain the florets and set aside.
  2. Heat oil in a tawa and season with cumin seeds. Add curry leaves.
  4. Add onions when the curry leaves start to sizzle. Sauté until the onions turn translucent.
  6. Add in sambar powder and salt. Give a quick stir.
  8. Add raw rice water and bring it to boil or until the gravy gets thick.
  10. Add the blanched florets to the gravy and cook until all the water is absorbed and florets are well cooked.
  12. Finish it off with roasted gram dal powder and give a quick stir. Switch off the flame when the roasted gram dal powder is well blended with the gravy. Enjoy! 🙂

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Kadai Paneer

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Kadai PaneerPaneer is a type of cheese that is common in South Asian cuisine. Paneer is made by curdling milk with the addition of lime or vinegar. Here in the US, cottage cheese or queso fresco (a variety of Mexican cheese) is the recommended substitutes. There are a variety of dishes made from paneer in north Indian cuisine. Here I have posted the recipe for one such popular dish called Kadai Paneer.
Kadai PaneerKadai PaneerKadai Paneer literally means paneer that is cooked in a cooking pot. It is a popular dish in Indian restaurants and often served during festivals and in functions. Kadai Paneer is one of the few dishes that I liked in the first taste. The recipe I have given below is of restaurant style Kadai Paneer. It is spicy and colorful dish (mainly because of the bell peppers) and goes well with chappati (or any Indian flatbreads), pulav/pulao etc.
Kadai PaneerFor Kadai Paneer, fresh ingredients are the key. You have to make the ingredients like crushed ginger garlic, coriander powder and chilli powder only when it is time for them to be added, unlike other recipes where they are prepared beforehand. Try this restaurant style Kadai Paneer and enjoy it with hot rotis on a lay afternoon like I do – It does feel heavenly. 🙂

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Kadai Paneer
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 3
 
Ingredients
  • Cumin seed – a pinch
  • Onion, medium, finely chopped – ½ no
  • Garic cloves – 4 nos
  • Ginger – ¾”
  • Tomatoes, big, finely chopped – 2 nos
  • Coriander seeds – 1 tsp
  • Red chilli flakes – ½ tsp
  • Green or red bell pepper or capsicum, julienned – ½ no
  • Green chilli, finely chopped – 1 nos
  • Salt as required
  • Garam masala – a pinch
  • Paneer, cut to cubes – ½ pk
  • Kasthoori methi leaves or dry fenugreek leaves – 1 ½ tsp
  • Ginger, julienned – ¼ “
  • Cilantro, finely chopped - for garnishing
Instructions
  1. Heat a kadai and add oil. When the oil is hot add cumin seeds. Wait until they start to sizzle. Add finely chopped onion. Sauté until they turn translucent. Meanwhile crush ginger and garlic in a motor and pestle.
  3. Add the crushed ginger and garlic. Sauté until the raw smell disappears.
  4. Add in finely chopped tomato and sauté well in a low flame. Meanwhile coarsely pulse the coriander seed and red chilli flakes for very few seconds. See notes below.
  6. Add the coriander powder and mix well. Sauté and cook until oil separates.
  7. Add in the julienned capsicum and green chilli. Mix and sauté them for couple of minutes until capsicum is half cooked – you could add very little water if you feel the mixture is dry.
  9. Add salt and garam masala. Stir to mix.
  10. Add in the paneer cubes and mix until the masala is well coated. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes and add kasthoori methi, julienned ginger and coriander leaves. Stir and cook for another couple of minutes and switch off the flame.
  12. Serve delicious kadai paneer with any pulao or roti. Enjoy!
Notes
1.Fresh ingredients are the key for this recipe. Make crushed ginger garlic and coriander powder then and there when needed.
2.I added chilli flakes so it took me only very few seconds to blend them to a coarse powder. You could also add one red chilli in place of chilli flakes.
3.The coriander mixture has to be coarse and do not blend it to fine powder.

Kadai Paneer

Dal makhani

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Dal makhaniDal Makhani is a popular north Indian dish that has its origin in Punjab. It literally means ‘buttery lentils’. It is supposed that the original Dal makhani recipe has only black gram lentil (urad) in it. Makhani means buttery and so it is butter and cream along with urad dal. As per Wikipedia, Dal Makhani became popular after the partition, thanks to the Punjabi diaspora. It is a typical punjabi dish that can be found in almost all Dhabas (roadside eateries, very popular in North India) and in Indian restaurants here in the US.
Dal makhani
Dal makhaniThere are so many varieties of sauces like cashew, tomato, white sauce, curry sauce, rogan josh, buna, madrasi etc and Makhani is one among them. Through out my experience with cooking different dishes, I have noticed that most often cooking a recipe can be broadly defined as first preparing a sauce/gravy and then adding the main ingredient, the one that defines the dish, to it. This method of preparation of dishes is particularly useful in restaurants where a variety of sauces are prepared first and then different recipes are cooked using those sauces. And Dal Makhani is prepared the same way as well; you first prepare the Makhani and then add lentil (urad dal here) to it.
Dal makhani
Dal makhani
Dal Makhani is a very rich and flavorful dish. This is mainly because of the lentils which gives you a fullness when eaten due to the high protein content. Hence it is a healthy dish as well. Dal Makhani goes well with almost all entree items like rice, chappati, paratha, naan etc. Also, it is very easy to make. So without further delay, go prepare this easy and tasty punjabi dish in your kitchen and let me know your comments 🙂

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Dal makhani
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • Black gram dal – 1 cup
  • Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp
  • Kashmiri red chilli powder – 1 ¼ tbsp
  • Unsalted butter – 5 tbsp (120 gr)
  • Tomato, large, pureed – 2 ½ nos (pureed to 1 cup)
  • Fresh cream – 4 to 5 tbsp (250 gr)
  • Salt as required
Instructions
  1. Soak dal in water for 8 hours or overnight.
  2. Rub the dal using your two hands and filter the skins. Repeat this for 5 to 8 times until 70% of the skin is removed.
  3. Add 3 cups of water and ½ tsp salt and pressure cook the dal for 5 whistles.
  4. Transfer the dal into a thick bottomed non stick sauce pan and bring them to boil. Add ginger garlic paste, chilli powder and butter. Cook until the butter is melted, mixed and well blended.
  5. Add in tomato puree and fresh cream. Mix well and add enough salt.
  6. Bring the dal makhani to boil in a low to medium flame. Cook for around 20 to 25 minutes until a thin glaze is formed at the top.
  7. Serve it hot with a dollop of butter on top. It goes excellent with naan, rotis and other Indian flat bread varieties.
To make tomato puree:
  1. Heat a sauce pan with a tbsp of oil. Add in roughly chopped tomatoes and very little salt. Sauté until oil seperates.
  2. Allow it to cool and make a thick puree adding very little water.
Notes
1.Amount of dal and tomato puree should be 1:1 ratio (equal).
2.Use non stick pan to make this dal makhani dish to avoid the dal sticking at the bottom.
3.could also add rajma and other kinds of dal to this dish. i have tried both and all tasted equally good.

Dal makhani

MUSHROOM PEPPER FRY

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Mushroom pepper fry

Mushroom is a popular ingredient found in Asian cuisine, especially, Korean, Indian and Japanese. It is a popular item in up-scale vegetarian restaurants back home. Do you know that mushroom is actually a type of fungus?! Mushroom pepper fry is a relatively new dish in my cook book. I learned it from a recipe that I found online. Mushroom pepper fry is one of those recipes that goes well with almost all main dishes, namely, rice, chappati, dosa, poori etc.
Mushroom pepper fry
Mushroom pepper fry is what I call the vegetarian equivalent of mutton fry and trust me, it does taste similar. It is easy to cook and can be recycled to some type of gravy as well.
Mushroom pepper fry
Do try this recipe in your home and let me know of your thoughts, including any new variations that you had tried or any suggestions!

Mushroom pepper fry

5.0 from 1 reviews
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MUSHROOM PEPPER FRY
Recipe type: Lunch
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2
 
Ingredients
  • Oil – 2 tbsp
  • Whole spices – 1 bay leaf, 2 green cardamom, 2 cloves, 1 “ cinnamon stick
  • Cumin seeds – 1 tsp, divided
  • Onion, chopped – 1 no
  • Ginger-garlic paste – 1 tbsp
  • Curry leaves – a sprig
  • Green chilli, chopped – 2 nos
  • Tomato, chopped – 1 no
  • Turmeric powder – a pinch
  • Mushroom – 150 grams
  • Salt as required
  • Cilantro – to ganish
  • Lemon juice – 1 tbsp
To crush
  • Black pepper – 1 tsp
  • Garlic – ½ tsp
  • Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
For the seasoning
  • Butter – ½ tbsp
  • Crushed items
  • Coriander powder – ½ tbsp
  • Cumin power – ½ tbsp
  • Red chilli powder - ½ tbsp
  • Cilantro – ½ tbsp
Instructions
  1. Heat oil in a wide open pan and add the whole spices. Add in half a tsp of cumin seeds, followed by chopped onion. When they turn translucent, add turmeric powder and ginger garlic paste.
  2. When the raw aroma disappears add curry leaves. Add green chillies followed by tomatoes. Sauté well and simmer. Meanwhile wash and cut the mushrooms.
  3. After the tomatoes are well cooked add the mushrooms and sauté well. Add in half a cup of water. Cover and cook for couple of minutes.
  4. While the mushrooms are getting cooked, heat a seasoning ladle (or a small pan), add butter and season with crushed garlic, pepper and cumin seeds. Also, add all the powders and cilantro to the seasoning. Give a quick stir and add to the mushroom gravy. Add salt. Cook until all the water is evaporated and you get the nice and dry mushroom fry (or make it as a semi gravy according to your choice)

Mushroom pepper fry

 

Chicken Kuzhambu

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Chicken KuzhambuThere are certain recipes that always remain our favorites and we can never be tired of cooking them over and over again. One such recipe that I cook often, and of course, enjoyed by my family and friends, is the Chicken kuzhambu, south Tamilnadu style. It’s better than any restaurant recipe, guaranteed!
Chicken KuzhambuChicken gravy was the first non-vegetarian dish that I cooked and it turned out well the very first time!:). If you had been a regular visitor to my site, I had mentioned earlier about my Mom’s cookbook diary that she had given me after my marriage. This chicken kuzhambu recipe is from that. It is a simple yet tasty dish that is cooked at least once in two months in my kitchen and is my HB’s favorite as well.
Chicken KuzhambuYou can have chicken kuzhambu with biriyani, white rice, chappati or dosa! It goes well with almost every main course item…Many of my friends, after trying my chicken kuzhambu had mentioned that the sambar powder that I use makes the difference!
Chicken KuzhambuTry this recipe in your home and let me know your thoughts!

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Chicken Kuzhambu
Recipe type: Lunch
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
To marinate:
  • Chicken – ½ kg (with bones)
  • Sambar powder or veettu milagai podi (Homemade) – 2 tbs
  • Ginger & Garlic paste – ½ tbs
  • Salt – 1 tsp
To grind:
  • Grated coconut – 1½ tbs
  • Shallot – 1
Other ingredients:
  • Biriyani powder – 1 tbs
  • Onion (big) – 1
  • Tomato (medium) – 1½
  • Green chilli – 2 (slits)
  • Ginger & Garlic paste – ½ tbs
  • Coriander leaves – for garnishing
Instructions
  1. Wash the chicken pieces in running water and marinate it with given ingredients.
  2. Grind the above given ingredients to a paste and keep it aside.
  3. Heat a thick bottomed pan with a tbs of oil. Add biriyani powder and chopped onions. Sauté until onions turn translucent.
  4. Add ginger & garlic paste. Stir fry till the raw aroma of ginger-garlic disappears.
  5. Add chopped tomato and slit green chilli. Sauté until the tomatoes are mushy.
  6. Add in the marinated chicken pieces and give it a stir.
  7. Add the ground coconut paste with required salt, mix well (you could add water now according to your preference. I usually don’t add water as the chicken itself ooze out lots of water). Close the lid and cook for 10 to 15 minutes stirring in between or until oil oozes out.
  8. When the chicken is well cooked, switch off the flame and garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.
  9. Serve hot chicken gravy with biriyani or white rice and any chicken / mutton fry of your choice.
Notes
1.I use homemade biriyani powder (blend of whole spices) for this recipe. Please follow the above link for its recipe.
2.If u don't have sambar powder, you can use regular red chilli powder as well. But the homemade sambar powder makes the difference.

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CHANNA MASALA / CHANNA / CHOLE

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ChannaChanna or Channa Masala is a very popular north Indian dish made from chick peas. You can find Channa Masala in almost all Indian restaurants, north Indian or south Indian. Channa is a very good source of protein and when cooked as a gravy it tastes yummy. In fact, it is one of my HB’s favorite dishes. We never fail to make Channa Masala at least once every two weeks.
008The main step in preparing Channa Masala is the amount of time that you soak the chick peas in water before cooking. The more it is soaked, the faster it gets cooked. As I said above, it is a good source of protein and I heard from my HB that back in India, he and his friends used leave Channa soaked in water overnight and have a handful before hitting the gym, sort of like an energy booster. There is also a black chickpea called as Kondaikadalai in my native tongue that can be cooked similar to Channa Masala. I have given the recipe for that here . There are days when we cook Channa without any masala, i.e., not in a gravy form and have it for dinner. This type is called a Sundal in Tamil. It is a popular Prashadam dish in temples back home.
ChannaChanna Masala is a very good side dish for Chappati, Bhature (Channa Bhature is another popular north Indian dish), Poori and rice as well. And here is the recipe for Channa Masala. Try it in your home and as always comment on your experience and thoughts 🙂

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CHANNA / CHOLE
Recipe type: Lunch|Dinner
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2
 
Ingredients
  • Cooking or vegetable oil – 1 tbs
  • Cinnamon stick – 1 (2 inch)
  • Cardamom – 3
  • Cloves – 2
  • Bay leaf – 1
  • Cumin seeds – 1 tbs
  • Onion – 1
  • Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
  • Ginger & Garlic paste – 1 tbs
  • Green chillies, finely chopped – 1 no
  • Channa masala – 1 ½ tbs
  • Channa or chickpeas – 1 cup
  • Lemon juice – 1 tbs
  • Salt as required
  • Coriander leaves – for garnishing
to make puree
  • Tomato - 1 no
  • green chilli - 1 no
Instructions
  1. Soak the channa/chickpeas overnight or for 8 hours.
  2. Pressure cook the channa with little water and a tsp of salt for 3 whistles - It should be cooked in such a way that you could smash the channa by your thumb and index fingers.
  3. Make a puree of tomato and green chilli in a blender and set aside.
  4. Heat a wide pan with a tbs of oil, add the whole spices mentioned above followed by cumin seeds.
  5. When cumin seeds start to splutter, add chopped onion and fry till they are softened and become translucent.
  6. Add turmeric powder and ginger-garlic paste. Sauté until the raw aroma of ginger-garlic disappears.
  7. Add the tomato puree and chopped green chilli. Saute for 2-3 minutes, stirring in between.
  8. Add channa masala powder and little salt . Mix well and saute until oil seperates.
  9. Add the cooked masala into boiled channa, mix well and pressure cook for another 2 whistles.
  10. Sprinkle few drops of lemon juice on top and garnish with coriander leaves.
  11. Serve hot channa masala with pooris, chapattis or steamed rice accompanied with lemon & onion slices.

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