Seyal Maani/ Rotis in Green Masala

I am sharing a popular Sindhi recipe today, which can transform any left over rotis or bread into a mouth watering dish that Sindhis love to have for breakfast, an evening snack or sometimes even as a light meal on the weekend. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Ingredients:
1 bunch fresh coriander leaves( cleaned and washed)
A few methi leaves cleaned and washed( optional)
1 medium sized onion chopped
8 to 10 flakes garlic
1 inch piece ginger
2 green chillies
1 big tomato grated
3 tbsps oil
6 to 8 leftover Chappatis of 2 to 3 pav breads
¼ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp coriander powder
A marble sized ball of tamarind soaked in ½ cup warm water.

Procedure
Grind coriander leaves, methi leaves, onion, ginger garlic and chillies with a little water coarsely in a grinder. Heat oil in a thick bottomed kadai and add the ground masala. Cook on low flame for afew minutes. Add dry spices and grated tomato and once again cook for about 10 minutes mixing occasionally. Squeeze out water from the soaked tamarind and add. Now put in 3 cups of boiling water and salt and cook for a couple of minutes on low flame with the lid on. Now break the chappatis into quarters or pav into slices and quickly drop into the gravy. The gravy will get soaked in by the rotis or bread, so you need to quickly ensure that the pieces are properly covered with the masala and gravy. Reduce flame and cover and let it steam for 2 – 3 minutes. Serve hot garnished with coriander leaves and roasted papad and chhaas or lassi.

Sai Bhaji

In most Sindhi homes, Sai Bhaji is a regular dish on the menu just like sambhar would be in a South Indian home. Sai Bhaji is highly nutritous and tasty dish which combines the food values of greens, vegetables, carbs and iron. Sindhis generally have aloo tikki, french fries or fried bhindi or brinjal as an accompaniment with Sai Bhaji and rice.

Ingredients:
3 tbsps Chana Daal - Split Bengal Gram washed and soaked in warm water for 2 hours
2 bunches Spinach, roots cut off, washed and chopped roughly
1 handful of fresh dill leaves
2 large tomatoes chopped fine
1 handful fenugreek leaves
1 large potato cut into 1" cubes
1 large onion cut into 1" cubes
1 small brinjal finely chopped
8-10 French beans, tops and tails cut off finely chopped
1 carrot finely chopped
2 inch piece of pumpkin doodhi finely chopped
10 - 12 cloves garlic
1 onion finely chopped
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1" piece of ginger grated
3 tbsps cooking oil
10 - 12 cloves garlic finely chopped
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 finely chopped green chillies
Salt to taste

Preparation:
Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add cummin seeds and allow to splutter. Add ginger garlic and green chillies. Let them splutter. Now add chopped onion and saute till transluscent. Then put the remaining vegetables and dal, except spinach, dil and methi. Cook for a couple of minutes. Add dry spices and chopped tomatoes and again cook for a couple of minutes stirring occasionally. Now put in the spinach, dil and methi leaves. Stir, add one glass of hot water and salt to taste. Close pressure cooker and cook for ten minutes on low flame after the first whistle. When cool, open and blend with a blender till the dal, grains and vegetables well blended. Serve hot with brown rice, moong dal khichdi or peas pulao, dahi and papad.





•Mix the chana daal, all the vegetables, coriander powder, turmeric powder and ginger together in a deep pan/ pressure cooker. Add 1/2 cup of water and cook till the daal is done - fully mashed. At this stage, there should not be too much water in the Bhaaji. If there is, dry it up by cooking some more.
•Remove from heat and add salt to taste. Stir well.
•Heat the oil in a small pan on medium heat. When hot, add the garlic, cumin seeds and green chillies to it. Fry till spluttering stops and then add this mixture to the cooked vegetables. Stir to blend.
•Serve piping hot with fresh Chapatis.

Daliya Upma

Rava Upma is a very popular breakfast dish and snack in South India and now across the country. While Rava Upma is delicious, in order to be soft and melt in the mouth, it needs a lot of ghee / oil. On the other hand, Daliya Upma made out of broken wheat and vegetables is not only tasty, highly nutritious, but also requires comparatively very little oil. Besides being a good breakfast or mid-meal snack, on some days when you feel like a light meal, it can be just what you want when had with Coconut Chutney, pickle, dahi and papad (all or any).

Ingredients
1 small cup Daliya
1 cup very finely chopped vegetables (carrots, potato, french beans and peas)
1 medium sized onion finely chopped
2 green chillies finely chopped
1 inch piece ginger finely chopped
1 medium sized tomato finely chopped
8 - 10 curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
Few coriander leaves finely chopped
Salt to taste
3 tbsp oil
Juice of half lemon (optional)

Procedure

Heat oil in a thick-bottomed kadai. When hot, add mustard seeds and allow to splutter. Put in chillies, ginger and curry leaves . Lower flame and add onion. Saute for a few minutes till onions become translucent. Now add chopped vegetables and keep turning for a few minutes till the vegetables are soft (check with a knife). Now add tomato, cook for a few minutes till tomato pieces blend with the vegetables. Add Daliya and stir for a couple of minutes. Finely add 2 1/2 cups of boiling water and salt. Let the mixture cook till the water is absorbed. Reduce flame, cover and cook for a minute or two on very low flame. Serve hot garnished with coriander leaves. You may add the lemon juice, if you may desire.

Paneer Pakoda

I was at Prospect Hotel Panchgani over the weekend and in one of the elaborate meals served by them was a yummy and melt-in-the-mouth starter ... Paneer Pakoda. It was so light and delicious that I took the liberty of asking the owner of Prospect to share their special recipe with me and I am going to share it with you...
Ingredients
250 gms fresh Paneer
1 inch piece ginger
1 green chilli finely chopped
1 to 2 spring onions finely chopped
A few coriander leaves finely chopped
Salt to taste
1 to 2 tbsp wheat flour
3 to 4 tbsps of cornflour
Oil for frying
Procedure:
Mash paneer with a potato masher. Add all the fresh spices and salt and mix well into a dough. Make small portions of the dough and shape into small balls (3/4 inch diameter). Put the wheatflour on a paper / plate and lightly roll each ball in the wheatflour. Keep the paneer balls in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes. Prepare a thin batter with cornflour, salt and water (consistency of pancake batter) Heat oil in a thick-bottomed kadai, take out paneer balls from the freezer. Dip each ball in the cornflour batter and deep fry on medium flame till golden brown. Serve pakodas on a bed of cabbage leaves and green chutney.

Doodhi Kofta Curry

Most people consider doodhi / white pumpkin to be a very tasteless and not very exotic vegetable like peas, cauliflower etc. However, since childhood a particular doodhi dish prepared by our cook at home was a favourite with all of us. His doodhi kofta curry was absolutely melt-in-the-mouth delicious. Because the cooks name was Martin, all of us named the dish Martin's curry. I would like to share this old family recipe with you. Maybe you will be inspired to try it out sometime.

Ingredients
250 gms Doodhi / Pumpkin (peeled and grated)
3 tbsps gram flour / besan
3 - 4 medium sized tomatoes finely chopped
2 medium sized onions finely chopped
3tsps finely chopped ginger
2 green chillies finely chopped
1 tsp jeera/ cumminseed
1 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp jeera powder
Few coriander leaves finely chopped
Oil for frying
Salt to taste

Procedure

In a bowl mix grated pumpkin, gram flour, 1 tsp chopped ginger, 1/2 tsp jeera seeds, 1/2 tsp coriander powder, 1 chopped green chilli, some coriander leaves and salt and mix together. Heat oil in a kadai and take one tbsp of the Doodhi mixture on your palm, flatten like a cutlet and drop slowly into the hot oil. Fry on medium heat. Gently turn over till both sides are golden brown. Remove on white tissue. Fry all koftas like this and keep aside. Heat 2 - 3 tbsps oil in a pressure cooker. Add the remaining 1/2 tsps jeera seeds, 2 tsps grated ginger and 1 chopped green chilli. Lower flame and add chopped onions. Cook on low flame till onions are golden brown. Now add chopped tomatoes, coriander powder, jeera powder, turmeric and cook till tomoatoes are well blended. Add 3 cups of hot water and salt to taste and cook for 10 minutes on low flame after the cooker whistle blows. When cool open the cooker and blend the curry to a smooth paste either with a hand blender or wooden mixer. Add the fried koftas to this gravy and cook for 2 - 3 minutes before serving. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve in a glass dish.

This dish goes well with roti, naan or bread.

Bhindi Aloo stuffed with Green Masala

Ingredients
250 gms Lady finger / Bhindi / Okra
2 medium sized potatoes
1 bunch coriander leaves
1 small onion
2 green chillies
1 inch piece ginger
8 flakes fresh or dried garlic
1 medium sized tomato
3 tbsp oil
¼ tsp turmeric (optional)
Salt to taste

Procedure
Grind coriander leaves, onion, green chilli, ginger garlic and a little salt into a smooth paste. Cut off the head and tip of each lady finger and slit in the middle vertically. Peel each potato and slit into thick round slices (four to six). Stuff each Bhindi through the slit with a little green Masala. Also, make pairs of potato slices and fill green Masala in-between. Heat oil in a thick-bottomed kadai and put in the potato slice pairs and sauté for a couple of minutes on low flame. Now add the stuffed bhindis and turn around gently. Add turmeric, salt to taste and tomato halved and cut into vertical slices. Cover and cook on very low flame till potatoes and bhindis are cooked. Serve hot with hot roti, dahi and papad. This preparation of bhindis also goes well with dal & rice or dahi kadhi and rice.

Snacking Delights with Britannia Multigrain Thins

On my weekly visit to the neighbourhood food store, I recently picked up a pack each of the three flavours of NutriChoice Multigrain thins, a baked, healthy snack from Britannia. I found all the flavours – Classic Indian Spice, Herb & Tomato and Lime & Mint delicious, very distinctive and absolutely addictive. While Thins taste yummy by themselves with tea or any beverage, last weekend, when I invited a few friends over for tea, I decided to get creative and serve NutriChoice Thins in my own way and here’s what I did.

Classic Indian Thins Chaat: Arrange Thins on a platter. Make a mix of boiled potato, peeled and cut into fine pieces, chopped onion, green chilli and coriander leaves, salt and pepper. Place small portions of the mix on each Thins piece. Put tamarind chutney on each, next put beaten yoghurt/dahi on each piece and finally sprinkle fine Bhel sev generously. Garnish with coriander and serve.

Herb and Tomato : Make a dip by mixing well half cup mayonnaise, a tablespoon grated cheese, one finely chopped spring onion, 2 flakes garlic ground and some chopped parsley. Serve thins with this dip.

Lime and Mint: Arrange Thins on a platter. Make a mix of American Corn and finely chopped capsicum in a cheesy white sauce. Place a spoonful of this on each Thins piece and garnish with crushed cornflakes. (optional)