Peas Pulao

These days the vegetable market is flooded with fresh, tender and very sweet green peas and priced very affordably. Green peas can be used in a variety of dishes like Aloo Mutter, Paneer Mutter & Peas Patties, Mushrooms and Peas. One can also make a yummy Peas Palau which can be had as a meal with just Raita, Papad, Pickle or accompanied by a gravy dish or Cuchumber Raita. Enjoy Peas this winter and try the Peas Palao when you want a quick and tasty meal accompaniment.
Ingredients:
• 1 cup Basmati Rice
• ½ cup shelled green peas
• 2 green chillies chopped
• ½” piece ginger chopped
• ½ tsp. cummin seeds
• ¼ tsp. turmeric powder
• ½ tsp. coriander powder
• 1 medium sized tomato chopped
• Salt to taste
• 2-3 tbsps. oil
• Few coriander leaves chopped (optional)
Procedure:
Wash and soak rice in a bowl of water for 15 – 20 minutes. In a thick-bottomed pan heat oil. Add ginger, green chillies and cummin seeds. When cumin seeds splutter, add curry leaves and peas and mix well. Now add all other dry spices and stir for a minute or too. Add chopped tomato, cover pan and reduce flame. After about 5 minutes mix well. Now add rice, salt, coriander leaves and 2¼ cups water. Cook on high flame with pan uncovered, till all the water dries up and you see holes in the rice. Reduce flame, cover pan with tight lid and cook on lowest flame for about 5minutes. Open lid, rice well, cover and cook for another 5 minutes till rice is done. It should be steaming, soft, yet not lumpy. Serve hot with pickle, raita and papad.

Adai

Yesterday I visited my friend Prabha at tea time and she served fresh hot, crisp and yummy adai with Molgapudi. The combination was so delicious that I got Prabha to share the recipe which is pretty simple and easy to make. Here it is.
Ingredients
1 cup rice
1/3 cup udad dal]
1/3 channa dal ]to make 1 cup
1/3 cup tuvar dal ]
1/2 tsp hing
2 green chillies finely chopped
Few curry leaves
Few coriander leaves
Salt to taste
and a little oil for frying
Procedure
Mix the rice and dal and soak for 3 - 5 hrs (or even overnight). Grind the soaked rice and dal with the spices and some water in a grinder to have batter like consistency. Heat non-stick pan. Add 1 - 2 tsp of oil. Spread and wipe the pan. Now pour two ladles of the batter and spread thin and round. Lower flame and allow to cook. Put a few drops of oil on the top and turn over when the bottom side is golden brown. Allow the second side to become golden brown and crisp. Serve hot with coconut chutney, green chutney or molgapudi.

Orange Marmalade

The fruit market is flooded these days with juicy and delicious Nagpur Oranges that are firm, fresh and juicy and have the just the right sweet and tangy taste. While oranges are great for juice and to be eaten, one can make an absolutely yummy orange marmalade at home, which tastes great on hot toast as topping for deserts and even spread on a hot chappatti as a last dish on your daily meal. Here's my recipe of orange marmalade....All those who have tried it, love it, hope that inspires you to take a shot at making it.

Ingredients
12 medium to large Nagpur oranges (peel and remove pulp)
2 1/2 cups sugar
Rind / peel of three oranges
Juice of 1 lemon

Procedure
Peel oranges, remove pulp and keep aside. Take rind of three oranges. Scrape off the white fibres and cut into very thin strips of 1 cm length Boil the chopped rind in water for 1 or 2 minutes and drain out the water and repeat once again. Boiling it twice will help to remove the extra bitterness. Drain out water and keep aside. In a thick bottomed pan heat the orange pulp and sugar over a medium flame for a few minutes. The sugar will desolve and along with the orange pulp will become a little water. Keep cooking on low flame stirring occasionally. After 5 - 10 minutes, add the orange rind and cook together till the mixture is of ketch-up like consistancy. Add lime juice and give the final boil and put off flame. Cover the pan with a cloth and allow it to cool for a few hours. The jam will thicken because of the sugar. Empty in a bottle and store in a refrigerator.

Bread & Butter Pudding

Most of us like to end our meal, especially on the weekend with a sweet / desert. We sometimes go out and buy Indian sweets like gulab jammun, jalebi, ladoos or pastries and mousse. But once in a while when we are in the mood to make something our selves, we try to find a recipe that is simple to make yet delicious and nutritious. One such dessert is Bread and Butter Pudding, which goes very well with most meals, specially in cool weather. It can be served hot or cold depending on individual likes and tastes good both ways.
Ingredients:
• 500 ml milk,
• 500 ml cream
• 49 gm butter
• 6 eggs
• 1 vanilla pod
• 1 French bread
• 100g apricot jam
• 250g sugar
• 25g sultanas

Procedure:
Slice the bread and apply butter on all sides. Line mould with butter. Prepare mixture with milk, cream and eggs and pour over the arranged bread rolls, sprinkle sultanas and bake at degree 200 degrees C for 15 – 20 minutes. Apply apricot jam and serve hot dredged with icing sugar. Garnish with mint sprig.

MultiGrain Thins with Beetroot Dip

I had the opportunity to taste the newly launched Britannia NutriChoice Multigrain Thins,Britannia's foray into the healthy snacking space and really loved all the three flavours - Classic Indian Spice, Herb Tomato and Lime and Mint. The Thins are delicious,light, healthy and a great snack to have at tea-time, with drinks, and even on the go. I also tried serving them with a beetroot dip and I think the combination is works brilliantly. So here's the recipe for the beetroot dip.

Ingredients
1/2 cup Beetroot Puree
1/2 cup hung curd
1/2 tsp cummin seed powder
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1 tsp chopped dill

Procedure
Blend all the ingredients in a blender to a smooth puree. Empty in a small glass bowl / dip serving dish and serve with Classic Indian Thins.

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.