Pomfret Curry

With the monsoon on it’s way out, there is plenty of fresh fish in the market and Pomfret is an all time favourite with sea food lovers. The joy of enjoying a well made, spicy fish curry with rice specially on a Sunday afternoon is something most non vegetarians would love to experience.
Ingredients
1 medium sized pomfret or few slices of Surmai fish
½ coconut
5 to 6 Kashmiri red chillies
½ tsp Jeera seeds
8 to 10 flakes garlic
¼ tsp turmeric
2 tbsp oil
1 tomato( grated)
1 small ball of tamarind
Salt to taste.
A few coriander leaves finely chopped
Procedure
Grind grated coconut with jeera, garlic and chillies. Wash the fish well and apply a little salt over it and keep aside. Heat oil in a pan and add ground masala. Cook for a couple of minutes. Then add grated tomato and turmeric. Cook for a while add tamarind water and a little hot water and salt. Let the gravy boil for a few minutes on low flame till the oil shows on the top. Now gently put in the fish pieces and boil for 2 to 3 minutes till fish is done. Turn off flame and serve with white rice garnished with coriander leaves.

Dahiwale Aloo

Aloo or potato is a favourite and very often most frequently used vegetable in most homes. Today let’s try a different and quick and simple to gravy dish with potatoes.
Ingredients:
3 to 4 medium sized potatoes, boiled,, peeled and cut into thick slices.
1 cup fresh yoghurt well blended
1 tsp besan
¼ tsp each jeera and mustard seeds
I inch piece ginger finely chopped
½ tsp dhania powder
½ tsp red chilli powder
¼ tsp turmeric powder
¼ tsp asoefotida(hing)
2tbsps oil
6 to 8 curry leaves
Few coriander leaves finely chopped
Procedure:
Heat oil in a pan. Add jeera and mustard seeds, ginger, hing and curry leaves. Add potatoes and all dry spices and sauté for 5 minutes. Blend yoghurt and besan with a little water and add to the potaoes, Add salt and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Put off flame and serve hot garnishes with coriander leaves.

SURAN (YAM) CUTLETS

Most of us are familiar with and enjoy mincemeat, potato or vegetable cutlets. There are several other vegetables that lend themselves well to making cutlets and other snacks and one such vegetable is Suran or Yam. It doesn’t look very appealing when you see it in the vegetable market, but can actually be converted into a delicious snack or dish to die for….
Ingredients:
250 gms suran
1 small onion finely chopped
½ tsp jeera
1 inch piece ginger finely chopped or ground
2 green chillies finely chopped
2 slices bread or one pav
1 tbsp besan (gram flour)
¼ tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp coriander powder
Few coriander leaves finely chopped
Ground bread crumbs for coating
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Procedure:
Peel suran and cut into 4 o5 large pieces. Boil in a pressure cooker for a couple of minutes. Open lid , drain out water and mash suran and allow it to cool . Heat two tbsps oil in a kadai and add jeera, ginger , green chillies and onion. Cook on low flame till onion is translucent. Add the mashed suran and coriander powder, chilli powder and salt. Stir for a minute or two, remove from flame and let the mixture cool. When it cools , add gram flour and bread( soak bread in water and squeeze it out) and coriander leaves and mix well. Keep the mixture in the fridge for an hour or two so it hardens a bit. Then make balls and flatten to cutlets. Cot both sides with bread crumps and shallow fry in a non stick pan till both sides are golden brown. Serve hot with green chutney, coconut chutney or ketchup.

Mixed Dal

Dal finds a permanent slot in all Indian meals. Since most of us have some form of dal almost everyday, there is a need for variety to avoid monotony setting in. Here’s a recipe for a very tasty dal which goes well with roti and even rice.
Ingredients:
½ small katori chana dal
½ small katori Tur dal
½ small katori green moong
½ small katori udad dal (white or black)
½ small katori masoor dal
( You can use any 3 or 4 or all of these dals)
One mall ball of tamarind
One medium sized onion finely chopped
1 inch piece ginger scraped and finely chopped.
8 to 10 flakes garlic peeled and finely chopped
2 green chillies finely chopped
¼ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp mustard seeds
Few curry leaves
2 tbps pure ghee
Salt to taste
Few coriander leaves finely chopped
Procedure:
Wash and soak dals in 3 to 4 cups of water for an hour or more. Soak tamarind in 1 cup of water. Add turmeric powder and cook in a pressure cooker for 5 to 7 minutes after the first whistle on reduced flame. When cool open cooker lid and once again cook on low flame after adding salt and tamarind water. The grains of dal should be well cooked but clearly seen. Cook for a few minutes stirring occasionally. Now heat the ghee in a tadka kadai, add mustard seeds and let them slutter. Add ginger, garlic, onion and chillies and cook till onions are transulent. Put this into the hot dal and immediately cover with lid. Before serving add chopped coriander leaves

Carrots and Methi (Gajjar Methi)

I am sharing today a highly nutritious and quick and easy to make recipe of Gajar in Methi. It not only tastes good, but goes well with both roti and rice.
Ingredients
250 gms carrots
1 bundle methi leaves (fenugri)
2 medium sized tomatoes
1 inch piece ginger finely chopped
6 - 8 flakes of garlic peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp coriander powder (dhanya powder)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
2 green chillies finely chopped
3 tbps oil
salt to taste
Procedure
Wash and peel carrots and chop into small pieces. Remove methi leaves from stalks. Wash well and chop finely. Heat oil in thick bottomed kadai or pan. Add ginger garlic and green chillies and saute for a minute or two on low flame. Now add finely chopped methi leaves and saute for a couple of minutes. Add dry spices coriander, turmeric, chillies (red) and chopped carrots and turn around for 2 - 3 minutes. Finally, add finely chopped / grated tomatoes. Mix well. Add salt. Cover the pan and cook on low flame till carrots are done. (You can check it out by piercing with a knife). Serve with hot rotis or puries, dahi and pickle.

Over the weekend I tried making Daliya Upma, a dish that can be very good for breakfast as well as tea time snack or even a light meal if you are not in a mood for a regular meal. It is pretty simple to make, highly nutritious and tasty too, so I hope that I have tempted you enough to want to try it.
Ingredients
1/2 cup Daliya (coarsely ground wheat)
1/4 cup rava (suji)
2 green chillies finely chopped
1/2 inch piece ginger finely chopped
1 small onion finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped and steamed mixed vegetables (carrot, green peas etc.)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
6-8 curry leaves
juice of half lemon
few coriander leaves finely chopped
3 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
Procedure
Heat oil in a thick-bottomed kadai, add mustard seeds, ginger and curry leaves, allow seeds to splutter. Reduce flame and add chopped onion. Saute for 2 - 3 minutes. Now add daliya and suji. Again saute for a minute or two. Now put in the vegetables and stir again for a minute or two. Add salt to taste and 2 1/2 cups of boiling water. Cook for a minute or two on low flame covered, till the mixture is solid but soft. Turn off flame, add lemon juice and serve garnished with coriander leaves. You can serve this with coconut chutney or yoghurt and papad.

Egg Curry

Most of us have eggs for breakfast or an in-between meal snack like sandwiches or pakodas etc., but eggs also make a delicious curry, which can be the main course of a lunch or dinner meal. Here's my recipe.
Ingredients
4 eggs boiled and kept aside
1/2 coconut (grated)
4 - 5 kashmiri dried red chillies
1 tsp jeera (cummin seeds)
8 - 10 flakes garlic
1 inch piece ginger
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 grated tomato
1 tiny ball of tamarind soaked in water
3 tbsps oil
Few coriander leaves finely chopped
Salt to taste
Procedure:
Grind coconut, chillies, jeera and ginger garlic with a little water in the mixer. mixer. Heat oil in a thick-bottomed pan. Add ground masala and saute for a few minutes on low flame. Add turmeric and grated tomato and cook for a minute or two. Now add salt, tamarind water after squeezing out the tamarind and two cups of boiling water. Cover pan and allow to simmer on low flame for ten minutes. Turn off flame. Peel the boiled eggs and slit into two vertically. Place eggs in a glass bowl or serving dish and pour hot gravy over it. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with white rice or fresh pav bread. Onion-tomato salad and fried papads go well with this curry rice.