Tomato Curry

Most Sindhi's love to have Kadhi Chawal and Aloo Tikki or Aloo Tuk for lunch on Sundays. We are known for our Besan Kadhi which is absolutely delicious, but takes quite a long time to prepare. The other Kadhi that is equally tasty, but quicker to make is tomato Kadhi with vegetables. So I very often take the easier route and make Tomato Kadhi for lunch. You could try it out this weekend.
Ingredients
6 – 8 Medium sized Ripe red tomatoes
1 1/2 tbsp Besan/Gram flour
8 to 10 Lady finger (slit in between)
cluster beans - 15
2 Drumstick Cut into 2 -3 inch long pieces
1 Carrot chopped into vertical strips
Few pieces of pumpkin (optional)
1 potato peeled and cut into pieces
1 brinjal cut into pieces (optional)
1 inch piece ginger finely chopped
2 green chillies
8-10 curry leaves
½ tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp methi seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp red chillie powder
3 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
Procedure
Pressure cook the tomatoes with two glasses of water for five minutes. Allow to cool. Remove the thin outer skin of the tomatoes and blend in a blender. Keep aside. In a thick-bottomed pan, heat the oil. Add mustard and methi seeds and allow to splutter. Add green chilli, ginger and curry leaves and lower flame. Now add besan and fry for 2 - 3 minutes. When golden brown, add tomato puree and about 2 - 3 cups of hot water and turmeric and red chilli powder. Bring to the boil and add the chopped vegetables and salt to taste and allow to cook for 15 to 20 minutes till the vegetables are done. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with white rice. Aloo tikki, french fries, papad can also go well with it.

Carrot Pickle

Mumbai is finally seeing cooler evenings and mornings, and the appearance of winter vegetables in the market. Over the last couple of days I have seen fresh and tender green peas and juicy red carrots, which can be used to make a number of winter delicacies including Gajar Halwa. What I am going to share now is a very simple and easy to make Carrot Pickle, which is nutritious, oil free and tasty.
Ingredients:
4 - 5 Juicy Red Carrots
10 - 12 flakes of fresh or dried garlic (peeled and slit)
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp mustard seeds
Salt to taste

Procedure:
Wash and scrape carrots and cut into 1 cm thick slices. Put chopped carrots in a pan. Add enough water to be half inch above the carrots. Boil for 4 to 5 minutes on low flame. Allow to cool. When cooled, add all spices. Mix well and put in a glass jar, cover lid and keep in sunlight for a few hours. This pickle is ready to eat the next day and tastes good for 4 to 5 days, becoming a little more sour each day. It goes extremely well with all Indian Food, specially dal and rice. The water makes a very appetizing drink.

In my home each winter we make a fresh lot of the pickle every week because it goes consumed so quickly.

Paneer Toast

Weekends are always time to break away from regular meals and experiment with something new. I, for one love to try out new recipes for breakfast and also a Sunday evening snack because I like to skip dinner and have a light snack i.e. wholesome, delicious to taste and quick to make. Paneer Bhurji on Toast is one such snack which makes a terrific breakfast or a Sunday evening light meal.
Ingredients:

• 250 gms. Paneer finely chopped
• 1 medium sized onion finely chopped
• 2 medium sized tomatoes finely chopped
• ½” piece ginger finely chopped
• 2 green chillies finely chopped
• ¼ tsp. oregano (if not available ¼ tsp. cummin seeds)
• Coriander leaves finely chopped
• ½ tsp coriander powder
• 6-8 slices of bread
• 3 tbsps. melted butter or oil
• Butter for Toasts (optional)
• Salt to taste

Procedure:
Heat butter / oil in a kadai. Add oregano / cummin seeds. When they stop spluttering, reduce flame and add green chillies and ginger. Stir for a minute or two. Add onions and stir for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and cover for a few minutes. When tomatoes are soft and well blended with onion, add Paneer and all other ingredients. Stir and cover. Keep on lowest flame for 3-5 minutes. Remove and keep aside. Toast bread in a toaster or on a non stick pan. Apply a little butter and spread cooked paneer on each toast. Cut each toast into halves diagonally. Serve hot with crisp potato wafers.

I was at the launch of Godrej Tyson - Real Good Yummiez Punjabi Chicken Tikka earlier this week and really nejoyed the authentic taste of the product. The Tikkas are soft, juicy and delicious, bringing real Punjabi taste to one's home and ready to serve in a jiffy. Celebrity chef Vicky Ratnani showed us many creative ways of using Yummiez Punjabi Chicken Tikka interestingly and I am sharing with you here absolutely finger-licking delicious Chicken Tikka Penne Pomodoro that he prepared in just a few minutes, making everyone's mouth water even while he was making it happen.

Ingredients

Chicken Tikka Chunks (4 Tikka pieces or 120 gms)
Cooked pasta (preferably short 150 gms)
For the sauce
Onion chopped 1 Tablespoon
Celery 1 tsp
Leeks 1 tsp
Garlic 2 cloves
Butter 1 tbsp
Olive oil 1 tbsp
Tomatoes chopped (3 medium sized)
Basil leaves 1 tsp
Parsley chopped 1 tsp
Fresh coriander chopped 1 tsp
Sugar pinched
Green Chilli chopped one
Salt and Pepper to taste
Cream 1/2 cup
Spring Onion 1 stalk

Procedure:
Cut Chicken Tikka Chunks into slices. Set aside cooked pasta in boiling salted water for 9 - 12 minutes. Drain and cool. Keep 1/2 cup of cooking water for the sauce. In a heavy bottomed pan heat up the olive oil and clarified butter. Sweat the diced onions, leeks and celery for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for two minutes. Throw in the chopped tomatoes along with the Chicken Tikka slices and saute well for six minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper, pinch of sugar to create a chunky sauce. Blanche the pasta in boiling water and add to the sauce. Add the cream, basil, parsley and fresh coriander. Garnish with spring onion and serve in an attractive glass dish.

I was in Delhi most of this week participating in the Ad Asia Conference. While the conference provided a lot of food for thought, the lunches and dinners offered a food to think about. While most of the meals were big buffets with a big spread of thematic dishes, there were many new and innovative delicacies that were served and I will share a few. For the first time I saw kulfi scraped out in strips from a pink and white striped cylinder just like one pulls out scotch tape from a roll and it tasted really good. Another, first was pomegranate flavoured kulfi on a stick, which took us back to our schools days. Even in Raitas innovation could be seen, whether it was mint and pomegranate raita, which was so cooling and delicious or the mustard and curry leaves raita which immediately took you to Kerala. In Street Food dinner, the Kanji Wada was to die for, as also the veg Galoti Kebab which melted in the mouth. After enjoying the exotic and rich Delhi food for four days am back in Mumbai and in Home Sweet Home looking forward to my first simple meal of the week, which is Roti Sabzi Dahi and Salad.

Carrot and Orange Soup

I am in beautiful Delhi to attend a conference …. lovely weather good food of all types. Last night we went to an Italian restaurant and had an excellent meal beginning with Carrot, Ginger and Orange soup. I liked it so much that I went to meet the chef and persuaded her to share the recipe with me. So here it is.

Ingredients:
6 to 8 fresh baby carrots( The Mahableshwar type , orange coloured ones)
1 orange
½ piece ginger finely chopped
8 to 10 mint leaves
15 to 20 small wheat bread roasted croutons ( They had used Italian wheat)
Salt to taste

Procedure:
Wash , scrape and grate carrots. Peel the orange. Remove the flesh of each segment by opening out. In a pan put grated carrots, orange pulp, mint leaves and ginger . Add 4 cups of water and boil on low flame till carrots are tender. Put off flame. Allow to cool a bit and then put the contents into a blender and blend till smooth. If too thick add a little hot water.
Add salt to taste and serve hot garnished with croutons.