Indian Food

Blogging Marathon# 28: Week 3/ Day 2Theme: Sindhi DishesDish: Sindhi Mung-a & Aloo TookFor day 2 of BM under 'Sindhi dishes' theme, I made 2 very delicious and simple dishes. Dal with moong beans and a dry curry with potato. I had a lot of Sindhi dishes bookmarked to try like this amazing Sindhi Saibhaji, Kokis and other veggies dishes. But my husband's been travelling and I didn't want to make these just for myself because even if I make just a little bit, there will be a lot leftover for me to eat for a whole week. So after browsing through Vaishali's & Alka's blogs, I ended up with 2 dishes that can be made with minimum ingredients and in small quantity, so I won't have too much leftover.First up is this simple dal made with whole moong beans. I love all beans, both for their health benefits and texture. When I saw the recipe on Vaishali's blog, I thought how different can it be from the dishes I'm used to. But I was pleasantly surprised on how much flavor just finely chopped ginger and garlic imparts to a dish.Read more »

Have you read my post on Homemade Mascarpone raise your hands, I mean comment here if you tried it out. So assuming you did make it in your own kitchen.This a very old draft that I pulled out to post right away after seeing the picture. It is a simple dessert with a touch of art. I think your guests will love it and you don't need to sweat over it to please them.Ingredients1 pear1/2 cup pomegranate juice1 cup mascarpone cheese1/4 cup icing sugarPrepare mascarpone cheese and chill in the fridge overnight. You can used ready made straight from the box if in a hurry.Now prepare the pears. In a saucepan heat the Pomegranate juice. Shave off the pear skin. Halve the pear and put it in it. Cook till the pear gets a nice pink colored skin. Let it cool. Now slice the pear thin. It should have pink outer color and untainted insides. Before serving blend the sugar into the mascarpone cheese to sweeten it and fluff it up a bit. Pipe it out into pretty bowls. Arrange the sliced pear in the form of a rosette on top of the piped mascarpone in each bowl. Tip: always start making the rosette from inside by first making the rolled bud then arranging the petals around it.Serve chilled. All material on this blog is Copyright © 2006, 2007 to Anna Parabrahma

For the second day of Sindhi dishes, I decided I had to make something with cluster beans, the sindhi way. As I had said my wish of putting my cookbooks to good usage went down the drain, I had to think of ways to make the best of what I had. Though the perennial question "What to make for dinner" seems to plaque every household, somehow it is not so strong when I can discuss that with Athamma. Now hubby dear said he is dreading the moment I step in, as I ask him that right away! I also warned him that he has to play critic to the BM theme this month as I was planning on making regional specific. Which means he has no say in quoting the authenticity other than simply saying if it was good or not. With the lack of time, I almost decided I should split the dal and aloo tuk to separate days, I knew it looked so simple to post separately. Luckily I have landed with enough dishes to do it together. However this gravy I did with cluster beans had to be a post on it's own. In fact when I googled for sindhi style Guaar dish, I couldn't find much. I had to settle down to one source and requested Vaishali to seal her approval. I couldn't do that as well. So in the end I have to share and hope this is sindhi. We normally make cluster beans in two ways. One dry saute with spices and roasted peanut, another gravy as a side dish for either dosas or chapatis. This version ended up being a dry saute with more of spice than what we normally add. It went fine with chapatis. Sindhi Guar Bhaji Sindhi Guar Bhaji Ingredients Needed Cluster beans / Guaar, finely chopped - 250 gms Tomatoes finely chopped - 2 medium Ginger Garlic paste 1/2 tsp Green chillies - 2 long Red chilli powder - 3/4 tsp Coriander powder - 3/4 tsp Turmeric powder a pinch Whole cumin seeds 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds - 1/ 2 tsp Garam masala powder 1/2 tsp Dry mango powder 1/4 tsp Cooking oil - 1 tsp Salt to taste How to make Sindhi Guaar Bhaji: Wash the chopped guaar 2-3 times in normal water. MW the beans in enough water for 10 mins, drain the beans and keep it aside. In a non stick pan, heat oil, Add cumin and mustard seeds and allow to crackle. Add green chillies and ginger-garlic paste, cook for 2 minutes on low flame. Add chopped tomatoes, salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and mix well. Cook for 3-4 minutes until nice color of tomatoes appear. Add boiled beans and coriander powder, saute for 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of water and garam masala powder, mix thoroughly. Simmer with lid covered so that the masalas are cooked and coats the vegetable. Finally add the dry mango powder, combine everything, make sure the subji is dry. Sindhi Guaar is a dry Subzi, so cook till all the water is evaporated. Serve hot with chapati Notes: I was skeptical about adding both cumin seeds and mustard for tempering. By default other than our andhra dal, I never add this combination for gravies. Come to think of it, other than dry mango powder, everything else is the same as how we make our kuras (gravies). So that goes to say that simple dishes across states are very much similar in their making. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 28

Chicken KaliyoBasmati RiceChapattiCabbage and Carrot Salad / SambharoTomato, Cucumber and Onion Salad / Kachumber

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Blame my luck, I couldn't get hold of mangoes either raw or a good variety of ripened ones when I chose to post mango based recipes this week for BM#28. The kesar mango pulp can I had in my pantry came for my rescue for my Day 1 post. If I cannot get hold of some mangoes even during this week's grocery trip, the other two recipes are also going to end up being made with the pulp. :) I usually prefer the commercially sold sweetened puree of the kesar mango variety when making aamrakhand or the cake because of the beautiful, vibrant hue it imparts to the dishes. For today's recipe, I chose to go with a kheer that is simple, quick and yummy. I had previously tried this mango version kheer with both vermicelli and rice. And so thought of trying with sago today as the previous versions were liked at home. Using readymade pulp of course reduces the mess and this kheer is done in no time. It is done faster than the vermicelli kheer. Ingredients: (2 servings) 2 Tbsp sago / sabudaana (I used fine variety) 3/4 cup milk 1/2 cup kesar mango pulp Sugar / sweetener only if needed 1/2 tsp cardamom powder Method: * Wash sago and cook in a pressure cooker for 1 whistle adding a cup of water. If using not fine variety, sago can be cooked up to three whistles. Or the sago can be cooked in a nonstick sauce pan on stove top until sago is cooked. The sago would look transparent when properly cooked. * Pour the cooked sago into a fine meshed sieve or a tea strainer and wash with plenty of water to get rid of the starch. * Boil milk in another sauce pan and add the cooked sago. Add cardamom and cook for a couple of minutes more. Turn off the stove and let the mixture come to room temperature. * Just stir in the sweetened mango pulp to the sago milk mixture and serve chilled if preferred. Notes: 1. If fresh mango is being used instead of the readymade sweetened pulp, just pass the mango flesh through a blender and stir in at the end. Taste the mango and check if sugar is needed. While boiling the milk - sago mixture, add sugar if needed. Let cool and stir in the mango puree. 2. We somehow don't add garnishing of ghee toasted raisins and cashews while preparing sabudana kheer and so I left them out purposely. They can be added if preferred. Check out here to know what other participating marathoners are cooking. Comments

I came across an an online food ordering website called Foodpanda.  It is an up-and-coming website that operates by delivering food from a wide range of restaurants to homes and/or offices in 11 cities in India, namely Delhi, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, etc. As an author of a food blog I can tell you blogs like mine mainly focus on cooking ideas and recipes. The whole idea interested

Daal Fry is one of the most common dishes at the Indian restaurants. I make mine as follows. Daal Fry Ingredients Pressure cook 1 cup toor daal 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 1/4 tsp asafoetida Tempering 1 tbsp oil 1 tbsp ghee/clarified butter 1/2 tsp cumin seeds 1/4 tsp asafoetida 2-3 cloves 2 red chilies 2 green chilies, minced 1 tbsp ginger paste 1/2 tbsp garlic paste 1 tomato, chopped You will also need, salt to taste 1/2 tsp garam masala 1/4 tsp amchoor powder Garnish 1 tbsp cilantro, chopped Suggested Accompaniment Jeera Rice or Plain Rice Method 1. Pressure cook toor daal, adding turmeric powder, asafoetida and adequate amount of water. Mash and set aside. 2. Heat oil and ghee in a saucepan. Add cumin seeds, cloves and asafoetida. As they splutter, add curry leaves, green & redchilies and ginger and garlic paste. Saute for 2 minutes. Add tomato and saute again for 1 minute. 3. Add mashed daal and 1/4 cup water. Add salt, garam masala and amchoor powder. 4. Simmer. 5. Garnish with cilantro Note - 1. Do not add too much water as this daal has a thick consistency. 2. If you do not like too much heat, reduce the amount of chilies.

We are starting the third week of Blogging Marathon Edition 28. I decided to take up Sindi dishes and thought long and hard on the dishes I should be making. I decided against the regular ones and wanted to try some really difficult ones. I also decided to refer my cookbooks rather than the online source. Guess what on both account I couldn't meet my own conditions. My books surprisingly vanished. I knew I had but however much I search for those books, I couldn't find them. The problem is, I keep reading and browsing and keep them somewhere. Other times, my kids find it interesting to browse through the books and pick up to do and keep it somewhere beyond my reach. So I had to resort again to blogs. My one stop for Sindhi recipes can't be anything other than Vaishali's. With just three of us at home, I decided I might as well make use of the time to cook new things for the dinner time. I was going through Vaishali's index and saw many interesting things. Unfortunately time was short and I had a meal to make. So finally settled down to make the Dal and Aloo Tuk. Sindhi Dal. Aloo Took I know Aloo Took met with lot of special Media attention what with the actor Amir Khan seen eating this. Don't ask me where I saw this, I just saw. Of course this is not the reason why I ended up making just that, it was Vaishali's picture that tempted me to indulge in this sin.As true to my nature, I simply can't follow a recipe through. I ended up using Masoor dal instead of toor dal. I sincerely hope that Sindis use Masoor dal as well..:). Rest of the recipe is almost the same as what Vaishali has said. Well almost!I suggest you refer Vaishali's post for authenticity, while I have my own take on a Sindhi Dal!As with any cuisine, the dal is always serve with rice and taryal patata (fried potatoes) In this case the Aloo Took. Though Vaishali has changed over to healthier options, I remain true to the solid Indian fancy and serve Dal, chawal with Fried Potatoes. Sindhi DalToor Dal - 1 cup (I used Masoor dal)Tomatoes - 2 mediumCurry leaves - 1 stemTurmeric powder a pinchGhee - 1 tpsWash the dal and in a pressure cooker, take the dal along with curry leaves, tomatoes, turmeric powder, ghee and salt. Pressure cook for couple of whistles.Once the pressure falls down, using a churner, mash the dal. Vaishali asks us to strain the dal to remove curry leaves and tomato skin. Being used to these, I skipped this part (I prefer to say this rather than accepting I didn't see this step)For TemperingOil - 2 tspcumin Seeds - 1/2 tspMustard seeds - 1/2 tspFenugreek Seeds - 1/4 tspHing a pinchGinger - 1/2 inchGreen chili - 4-5 Dry red chili - 2 Red chili powder - 1/4 tspSambar powder - 1/4 tspLemon juice - 1/4 tspsmall bunch of coriander leaves.Once the dal is cooked and simmer, do the tempering in the order listed and once it's all fried, pour over the simmering dal. cook for 5 mins The first time I saw these Aloo Took when Vaishali posted, I knew I had to make these. I am not really such a great fan of potatoes other than Potato chips. I didn't grow up eating aloo roast or any dry sautes with Aloo. Amma never makes Potato fries or the Aloo podimas or the many versions of fried potatoes. We took our weekly dose of potato as Masal for either Dosas, Pooris or even many times as Kurmas. With Amma never repeating a vegetable in a week, these fries never graced the dining table. Only after Konda started school, I found aloo roast was the quickest dish I can make. Anyways after having made Aloo Took, I can understand the attachment one gets with this dish! Without further rambling, here's the tempting aloo tuk served with dal. Aaloo tookPotatoesOil for deep fryingMasala to be sprinkledRed chilli powderAamchoor powder / Dry Mango powderBlack pepper powderCoriander powderRoasted Cumin powderGaram masalaSalt to taste You can go free on the measurement of the spices Peel potatoes. Cut into fat rounds.(a medium

Chicken and butternut soup