Navaratan Korma Restaurant style –

 

Ingredients –

French beans - 100 grams

Carrots - 125 grams 

green peas - 100 grams

cauliflower - 50 grams

paneer - 100 grams

few tinned pineapple cubes

For gravy (korma) –

onions - 500 grams

Tomatoes - 250 grams

ginger - 2 inch

garlic cloves - 16

green chillies - 8

turmeric - ½ T-spoon

red chilli powder - 1 and ½ T-spoon

cashews - 50 grams

curd – 3 tb-spoons

cream – 3 tb-spoons

sugar – 2 t-spoons

salt to taste

Garam masala – bay leaves – 2

green cardamom – 4

Cinnamon – 2 inch

oil – ½ cup

lemon juice -1 T-spoon

Procedure –

1.   Cut french beans and carrots into ½ inch pieces.

2. Cut cauliflower.

3.  Cut cottage cheese into 1/4^th inch /½ inch pieces.

4.  Cook french beans, carrot and cauliflower .

5.  Soak pieces of paneer/cottage cheese into warm water for sometime.

For Korma -

1.   Soak cashews into warm water for sometime.

2.  Cut onions into big chunks and boil them in water until onions turn transparent.

3.  Grind boiled onion pieces and tomato and keep separately.

4.  Grind cashews into a smooth paste and keep aside.

5.  Grind green chilli, ginger and garlic together and keep aside.

6.  Beat curd into smooth paste and keep aside.

7.  Heat oil in a pan and whole garam masalas. Sauté for a while.

8.  Add onion paste. Sauté for few minutes until it starts turning golden. Add little water if needed.

9.  Add salt and sugar and mix well .

10. Add curd and turmeric and sauté for 2-3 minutes until gravy starts leaving oil.

11. Add green chilli, ginger and garlic paste and sauté for 2-3 minutes.

12. Add tomato puree and sauté till gravy starts leaving the pan.

13. Add red chilli powder and cashew paste and sauté for 2-3 minutes.

14. Add boiled vegetables and mix well.

15. Add  soaked paneer/cottage cheese and toss.

16. Turn off the heat, add  cream , mix well and serve hot with roti.

Dhebra

 

One more tasty Gujrati snack. Specially good to eat during winters.

Ingredients -

Bajra flour( millet flour) – 1 ½ bowl

Wheat flour – 1 ½  bowl

Fenugreek leaves – 2 bowls

green garlic along with leaves – 1 small bunch

Green chili paste – as per taste

Jaggery – 1 T-spoon

Sesame seeds – 1 Tb-spoon

Curd – 1 bowl (more if required)

Turmeric powder – 1/4^th T-spoon

Salt to taste

Oil for dough and for roasting.

(Green garlic is optional. If you don't have green garlic with you, then add 4-5 garlic cloves. )

Procedure –

1. Knead bajra flour , wheat flour and chana flour well adding salt to taste.

2. Roughly chop fenugreek leaves and green garlic.

3. Add fenugreek leaves and green garlic in the dry flours along with green chili paste, jaggery, sesame seeds, turmeric powder and curd and knead well. If needed add little water and form a medium dough.

4. Heat tava or frying pan. Take golf size ball dough in your palm. Roll dhebra in a round shape. Don't try to roll it too thin. 

5. Roast dhebra on a low heat from both sides. Drizzle some more oil while roasting.

Note:

1. You can add green onions also in dhebra.
2. You can make little smaller size dhebra and deep fry them in kadai.

Rajma (kidney beans curry) -

Ingredients -

Rajma| kidney beans – 1 Cup, dry

Onions – 2 medium, roughly chopped

Tomatoes – 3 medium, chopped

Ginger - 1” chopped

Garlic cloves – 2-3, chopped

Green chilies – 2, chopped

Rajma masala - 3-4 Cloves, 2-3 Green Cardamom, 1” Cinnamon, 4-5 black pepper

 Bay leaves – 2

Cumin seeds – ½ t-spoon

Turmeric powder – ½ t-spoon

Red Chili powder – 1 tb-spoon OR to taste (use kashmiri red chili powder)

Coriander powder – 1 tb-spoon

Cumin seeds powder – ½ t-spoon

Amachoor powder – 1 t-spoon

Salt to taste

1 tbsp ghee + 1 tsp Oil

Chopped coriander leaves and 1 t-spoon butter for garnishing

Procedure -

1. Wash and soak Rajma overnight or 5-6 hours in hot water.

2. Drain and pressure cook with 2 cup fresh water until the Rajma is cooked soft yet hold it’s shape – for about 15 minutes. Keep it aside.

3. Heat oil and ghee combination in a pan, add cumin seeds and bay leaves and sauté. Add onions and Sauté it for 3-4 mins until the onions become light brown. Add ginger-garlic and sauté for a minute. Add chopped tomatoes and cook for 2 -3 minutes, till they become little mushy.

4. Grind all the whole spices in a mixer grinder. Add all the spice powders to the onion-tomato mixture. To this, add cooked Rajma along with the stalk. Adjust the consistency to your choice and let it cook for 10-15 mins on low heat. Stir occasionally.

5. Finally add salt to taste. Cook for 2 mins more. Remove from the heat. Check for seasoning. Let it sit for 10-15 mins before serve. Let blend all the spices with Rajma.

6. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or paratha.

Note:

1. Rajma-chawal is a very popular Punjabi meal. Rajma is also regularly cooked in Kashmir. While making Rajma in Kashmiri style, use 1/8 t-spoon of funnel seeds powder and 1/8^th t-spoon of nutmeg powder and skip the cumin seeds powder.

2. Rajama should be mildly spiced and little sour in taste. If you don’t like sour taste, you can skip amchoor powder, but don’t add sugar.

3. Here I am using pressure cooker, but traditionally rajma is cooked on a low-medium flame for a longer duration. You can use slow cooker for this recipe.

4. You can use ghee as much as you want, here I tried reducing ghee/oil as much as I can.

Dum Aloo Kashmiri –

Ingredients -

Small potatoes – 1 pound/ ½ kg

Tomatoes – 2 medium

Red chili powder – 1 t-spoon

Cumin seeds – 1/4^th t-spoon

Turmeric powder – 1/4^th t-spoon

Dry ginger powder – 1/4^th t-spoon

Funnel seeds powder – 1/8^th t-spoon

Bay leaves – 2

Garlic cloves – 5-6

Ginger – ½ ‘’

Curd – 1/4^th cup

Water – 2 cups

Oil – 1 tb-spoon + for frying potatoes

Chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

Procedure –

1. Boil the potatoes and peel them off. Punch some holes in potatoes by using fork. Make fine paste of tomato and keep aside.

2. Heat oil in a kadai and deep fry potatoes. Make a paste of ginger and garlic.

3. Heat oil in another pan and add bay leaves and cumin seeds. Let the seeds splutter.

4. Add ginger-garlic paste, all dry spices, red chili powder, turmeric powder, dry ginger powder, funnel seeds powder and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add beaten curd and sauté till the mixer is completely cooked and oil starts leaving the mixture.

5. Add tomato paste and sauté till tomatoes are cooked.

6. Then add fried potatoes, 2 cups of water and mix well. Cover the pan with lid. Give dum or cook for 5 to 10 minutes.

7. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with paratha or jeera rice.

Aloo methi –

Ingredients –

1. 1 large bunch of fenugreek leaves/methi leaves

2. potatoes – 2 medium, peeled and cubed

3. onions – 1 large, or 2 small, finely chopped

4. Tomato – 2, finely chopped

5. cumin seeds – ½ t-spoon

6. turmeric powder – 1/8^th t-spoon

7. ginger-garlic paste – 1 tb-spoon

8. garam masala – 1/4^th t-spoon

9. red chili powder – ½ t-spoon

10. Oil – 1 tb-spoon

11. Salt to taste

Procedure –

1. Heat oil in pan. Add cumin seeds. Let the seeds splutter and then add chopped onions. Sauté onions till they become light brown.

2. Add ginger-garlic paste and sauté for 2 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and sauté for 4-5 minutes, till the oil separates from the mixture.

3. Add turmeric powder, red chili powder and cubed potatoes. Cover the pan with lid and let the potatoes cook for 5 minutes.

4. Add fenugreek leaves, garam masala and salt. Sauté for a minute and cover the pan with lid. Cook for 5 minutes again. Don’t let the potatoes burn.

5. Serve hot with roti or paratha. 

Oondhiyo -

Ingredients for The Methi Muthias -

1. Fenugreek (methi) leaves 3 cups, chopped

2. salt to taste

3. whole wheat flour (gehun ka atta) – ½ cup

4. besan (bengal gram flour) – ½ cup

5. red chili powder – 2 t-spoon

6. Sugar - 2 ½ t-spoon

7. Turmeric Powder – ½ t-spoon

8. a pinch soda bi-carb

9. Oil(hot) - 3 tb-spoon

10. oil for deep frying

Other Ingredients -

1. baby potatoes , peeled – 1 cup

2. raw banana , cut into medium size cubes - 1

3. brinjal (baingan / eggplant) , small black variety – 3-4

4. Surati Vaal (or regular vaal) , stringed and cut into halves 1 ¼ cups

5. Purple , peeled and cut into cubes – 3/4^th cup

6. yam (suran) , peeled and chopped – 3/4^th cup

7. Fresh toovar (arhar) dana – 1/4^th

8. spoon oil – 4 tb-spoon

9. Carom seeds – ½ t-spoon

10. Asafetida – 1/4^th t-spoon

11. salt to taste

Masala To Be Mixed Together –

1. Freshly grated coconut – 1 cup

2. Finely chopped coriander (dhania) – ½ cup

3. coriander-cumin seeds (dhania-jeera) powder – 1 t-spoon each

4. Finely chopped green garlic (hara lehsun) – 1/3^rd cup

5. Goda masala powder – 1 tb-spoon

6. Green chili paste – 2 tb-spoon

7. sugar – 1 t-spoon

8. lemon juice – 1 tb-spoon

9. salt to taste

For The Garnish -

Finely chopped coriander (dhania) – 3 tb-spoon

Grated coconut – 2 tb-spoon

Use half of the masala for marinating vegetable and half for spreading in between layers

Procedure -
For the methi muthias -

1. Combine the fenugreek leaves and all the remaining ingredients and knead into a soft dough, adding water only if required.

2. Divide the dough into 18 to 20 equal portions and shape each portion roughly into a round by rolling it between your palms and fingers.

3. Heat the oil in a kadhai and deep fry the muthias a few at a time on a medium flame till they turn golden brown in colour from all the sides.

4. Drain on an absorbent paper and keep aside.

How to proceed

1. Make a criss-cross slit on each baby potato, banana piece and brinjal taking care

not to separate the segments. Stuff the vegetables evenly using little masala

mixture and keep aside.

2. Combine the beans and toovar dana and little masala mixture in a bowl, mix well and keep aside to marinate for 8 to 10 minutes.

3. Combine the yam and perple yam and masala mixture in a bowl, mix well and keep

aside to marinate for 8 to 10 minutes.

4. Heat the oil in a pan, add the carom seeds, asafoetida and sauté on a medium flame for a few seconds.

5. Then keep stacking layers one by one in the following order.

6. Add the stuffed baby potatoes and brinjal. Then add yam and purple yam. Then marinated toovar dal, surati vaal. Between each layer keep spreading masala mixture part by part.

7. After 10 minutes add methi muthia and raw banana and close the pan with lid immediately.

8. Keep cooking oondhiyo on medium flame for 10 more minutes.

9. Garnish with coconut and coriander and serve hot with Puri.

Note:

1. Let me tell you why this layering. Potatoes, yam and brinjal/eggplant take little longer to cook. Vegetable will cook faster. And banana, muthia at the end as we don’t want muthias and babana, to become too soft.

2. This vegetable will cook on medium flame for about 15-20 minutes. Don’t stir in between.

Sarson-da-saag / mustard green curry -

Ingredients –

Mustard greens (sarson) – 2 bundles bunch, washed and roughly chopped

Spinach (palak) – if baby spinach 2 bundles, regular size spinach 1 bundle, washed and roughly chopped

Bathua leaves – 1 bundle, washed and chopped

(a special green vegetable available in Northern India. If you don’t get Bathu leaves, replace them with 1 bowl methi leaves.)

4-6 table spoon makki da atta/maize flour/cornmeal

Onion – 3 medium size, chopped

Tomato – 2 medium size, finely chopped

ginger – 2” piece, finely chopped

Garlic cloves – 8-10, finely chopped

Green chills 4-5/as per taste, finely chopped

Dry masala powder -

Coriander- 1 t-spoon

cumin- ½ t-spoon

cloves- 3-4

cinnamon – ½ “

Dry roast all the spices and make a fine powder.

1 tb-spoon oil +  1 tb-spoon oil or desi ghee/clarified butter

Salt to taste

Procedure -

1. Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a large pot.

2. Add Mustard Leaves, Spinach and fenugreek leaves/bathua leaves and cook uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes.

3. Drain the leaves in a colander and allow them to cool. Grind them in a mixer grinder. Reserve liquid in case it is required to use later.

4. In a pan, heat 1 Tbsp oil and add half of the chopped onions and 1/2 tsp of salt. Cook until onions are translucent.

5. Add half of the Ginger, Garlic and green chili and cook until onions are golden brown.

6. Add half of the chopped tomatoes and cook until oil separates from the mixture.

7. Add greens, Salt, masala and Mix well. Add cornmeal and mix well. Don’t let the cornmeal form lumps. Cook for 5 minutes on medium heat. After adding cornmeal the mixture will be more thick. Add the reserved liquid to it and let all the mixture blend well.

8. Remove Saag into serving dish.

Tadaka at the time of serving -

1. In the same pan, heat 1 Tb-spoon Oil/ghee and sauté onions until light brown.

Add reserved ginger, garlic and green chilies and sauté.

2. Add reserved tomatoes and lightly cook.

3. Pour Onion/Tomato mixture over the Sarson ka Saag and serve hot with Makki

ki Roti or paratha.

Note:

1. Traditionally this recipe demands lots of ghee, if you like to use more ghee, feel free to use it generously.

2. If you like, you can add garam masala powder, instead of dry masala given. But masala should not overpower the taste and aroma of saag.

Punjabi Chhole –

Kabuli chana (dry, not soaked) – 1 cup

For Gravy -

Onion - 2 medium

Tomatoes - 2 medium

Ginger-Garlic paste – 1 tb-spoon

Chili powder - 1 t-spoon

Oil - 2 t-spoon

chat masala – ½ t-spoon

kasoori methi – 1 t-spoon (optional)

Chana masala (please refer masala section) – 1 tb-spoon or as per taste.

Salt to taste

Garnishing -

Green chilies

Tomatoes

Lime/lemon slices

Sliced onion

Procedure –

1. Soak chana/chhole in water for atleast 5-6 hours.

2. Add little salt in soaked chana and cook in a pressure cooker for 15 minutes.

3. Slice the onions and grind in a mixer. Take out onion paste and add tomatoes in grinder and grind to paste.

4. Heat oil in a pan. Add onion paste and sauté till light brown.

5. Add ginger-garlic paste, and sauté for 3-4 minutes, till the raw smell goes away.

6. Add tomato juice and sauté for 5 minutes, till the oil starts loosing.

7. Add chana masala, chat masala, red chili powder and sauté for a 2 minutes.

8. Add cooked chana/chhole and mix well.

9. Add chat masala and kasoori methi, salt to taste.

10. Cover the pan with lid and cook for 5 minutes.

11. If you need more sour taste, add little amachoor powder.

12. Serve hot with bhatura, puri or naan along with sliced onions and green chili.

 Note :

If you like chopped onions and keep that way. But for thick and blended gravy, grind onions and tomato.

(If you are in a hurry, add cooking soda in water. Chana will be soaked in 2-3 hours. But make sure to remove all the soda water and add fresh water while cooking.)

I don’t like mushy chana, I like them to hold their original shape. If you want chana more soft, then cook for 20 minutes.