Patta gobi ki sabzi (Cabbage sautee)

Taking a break from curries, here is a simple cabbage subzi. I like cooking cabbage in South Indian style, it is so simple yet so delicious. A great break from north indian spices to indulge in the aroma of coconut and curry leaves.

 

Ingredients:

 

Cabbage - 4 cups finely chopped

1/4 Red onion- finely chopped

Oil - 1 tbsp.

Mustard seeds (Rai) – 1 tsp

Asafoetida (Hing) – 1 pinch

Turmeric (Haldi) – ¼ tsp

Curry leaves - 1 sprig

1 inch Ginger – grated

Red chili [whole] – 1 or 2, to taste

Green chili – thinly sliced, to taste

Salt - to taste

Fresh shredded coconut or coconut powder – 2 tsp

 

Method:

   

1. Heat oil in a pan on medium flame.
2. Add Mustard Seeds and let them sputter.
3. Add Asafoetida, Turmeric, Red Chili, Curry Leaves and Green Chili.
4. Add onion and sautee for 2 minutes.
5. Add Cabbage and salt and mix well.
6. Cover and cook for about 4-5 min on low-medium flame.
7. Uncover and cook for a minute to dry any liquid.
8. Turn off the burner, add coconut and grated ginger, mix well.  

Notes: Coconut should always be added after turning off the flame, it does not need any cooking.
Also adding ginger in the last step gives lot of aroma and retains the juices from ginger.

 

  

Palak Paneer (Spinach and cottage cheese curry)

This curry is one of my hubby's favorites! Also the credit goes to this recipe for creating a curry base.
Since I do not use any store brought spice mix for this curry, it was very difficult to bring out the flavors in spinach. Finally I succeeded by using the curry base.

Serves 4-
Ingredients

3 cups of spinach leaves
8 ounce paneer cut in desired shape (I cut in thin triangle shapes)
2 teaspoon besan (chickpea flour)
2 tablespoon curry base
1 teaspoon jeera (cumin)
1 inch dalchini (cinnamon stick )
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoon kasuri methi (Dried fenugreek leaves-optional)
2 green chillies (optional)
salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash spinach and boil in a cup of water. 
2. Once completely cooled, blend in a coarse paste. 1-2 quick pulses should be enough. Do not over blend.
3. Heat oil in a flat bottomed pan on medium flame.
4. Now add cumin, cinnamon stick, green chilies and spinach paste.
5. Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes, add some water for the right consistency.
6. Mix chickpea flour in a small bowl with little cold water. Add this in the simmering spinach.
7. Let the chickpea flour cook for another 2-3 minutes and add curry base.
8. Simmer for another 3-4 minutes on low flame.
9. Add paneer triangles, salt and stop the burner.
10. Your hot and satisfying palak paneer is ready, garnish with grated paneer.

Notes: As mentioned in previous recipes keep the flame low while simmering the curry. Nothing can beat slow cooking for combining the flavors together.

I usually cut the pieces in small triangles as consistently as possible

 

Rajma (Red kidney bean curry)

The next curry in the curry series is - Rajma (Red kidney bean) Masala.
Rajma chawal (curry -rice) is one of the comfort foods in northern India. Its so delicious and packed with protein!
You will be amazed at how similar this recipe is to the chole recipe. That's the trick of Indian cooking, some ingredients here and there, and you can create a whole new burst of flavor with so little effort :)

Serves 4-
Ingredients:

1 cup Rajma (red kidney beans) (alternatively 2 cans of kidney beans)
2 tablespoon curry base
2 badi elaichi (black cardamom)
1 teaspoon jeera (cumin)
1 inch dalchini (cinnamon stick )
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoon kasuri methi (Dried fenugreek leaves-optional)
1 tablespoon Everest Rajma masala (this spice mix can be found at Indian store)
2 green chillies (optional)
salt to taste

Method:

1. Soak Kidney beans overnight in a big mixing bowl.
2. Strain the water in the morning, add beans in pressure cooker with twice the amount of water.
3. Add turmeric and 2 teaspoon salt, give 6-7 whistles on medium flame.
4. You can skip the above steps and use canned kidney beans (2 cans would suffice for this recipe)
5. Once the cooker is cooled down, transfer the beans in another bowl, rinse the cooker and add oil on medium flame.
6. Now add cumin, black cardamom, cinnamon stick and curry base. If you are using green chillies add that too.
7. Since the curry base is already fried, no need to sauté
8. Add rajma masala, kasuri methi  and sauté for a minute.
9. Now add the boiled kidney beans with water and salt. You can add water as per the consistency desired.
10. Cover the cooker with lid and give 2 whistles on a low flame, this will take about half an hour since its cooking slowly.
11. Your hot and spicy rajma masala is ready.
12. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy with naan or rice.

Notes: The advantage of slow cooking is that the curry does not get thicker with time.
You can make this curry a even day ahead before serving, the taste intensifies if made a few hours earlier before eating. 

Mushroom Capsicum Masala

This is another mouth watering curry made with curry base. It is packed with the flavors of Mushrooms, Capsicum and Red onion.

I usually get portobello baby mushrooms from costco. They are a great source of phosphorus and go amazingly well with omelettes, noodles, pasta and curries.

Here is the recipe for this sumptuous curry-

Ingredients:
3 cups of diced fresh mushrooms
1 large capsicum(green bell pepper): chopped in squares of 1 inch
1 red onion: Chopped in same size as capsicum
2 green chillies: finely chopped
2 tbsp curry base: see recipe here
4 tbsp oil
salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok or frying pan. Saute mushrooms on high flame till they change color and leave water. This should take about 5 minutes.
2. Transfer mushrooms in a bowl and heat the pan again with the remaining 2 tbsp oil.
3. Saute green chillies, onions and capsicum for few minutes.
4. Add curry base, salt and saute for another minute.
5. Add the mushrooms, mix well and turn off the flame.
6. Enjoy with chapati, parathe or naan.

Chole (Garbanzo bean curry)

My Last post was the curry base recipe. Now follows the curry recipe which uses this curry base. Every new post in the coming days will be about a flavor packed curry which is super easy to make if you have the curry base ready.
I start with the most popular Indian curry- Chole (Chana) Masala. Some of my American friends are a big fan of this curry and they like potatoes too in it. So using potatoes as an optional ingredient.

Serves 4-
Ingredients:

1 cup chole (garbanzo beans) (alternatively 2 cans of garbanzo beans)
2 tablespoon curry base
2 badi elaichi (black cardamom)
1 teaspoon jeera (cumin)
1 inch dalchini (cinnamon stick )
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoon kasuri methi (Dried fenugreek leaves-optional)
1 tablespoon Everest chole masala (this spice mix can be found at Indian store)
2 green chillies (optional)
1 big potato chopped in 1 inch cubes (optional)
salt to taste

Method:

1. Soak Garbanzo beans overnight in a big mixing bowl.
2. Strain the water in the morning, add beans in pressure cooker with twice the amount of water.
3. Add turmeric and 2 teaspoon salt, give 6-7 whistles on medium flame.
4. You can skip the above steps and use canned garbanzo beans (2 cans would suffice for this recipe)
5. Once the cooker is cooled down, transfer the beans in another bowl, rinse the cooker and add oil on medium flame.
6. Now add cumin, black cardamom, cinnamon stick and curry base. If you are using green chillies add that too.
7. Since the curry base is already fried, no need to sauté
8. Add chole masala, kasuri methi  and sauté for a minute.
9. Now add the boiled garbanzo beans with water and salt. You can add water as per the consistency desired. If using potatoes add now.
10. Cover the cooker with lid and give 2 whistles on a low flame, this will take about half an hour since its cooking slowly.
11. Your hot and spicy chole masala is ready.
12. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy with naan or rice.

Notes: The advantage of slow cooking is that the curry does not get thicker with time.
You can make this curry a even day ahead before serving, the taste intensifies if made a few hours earlier before eating. 

Curry base

India is known for curries! Nothing can be more satisfying than a hot sumptuous curry with flatbread or rice. Anytime I am expecting a guest on a meal or for a long visit at my place, the first thing I do is make a curry base. It stays fresh for a week in refrigerator or can be frozen for a longer time.
So presenting my own version of curry base which had been a long kept secret :)

Ingredients

1 large red onion
3 medium tomatoes
1 small capsicum (green pepper, Shimla mirch)
4-5 thai green chillies
4 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoon cumin
1 inch ginger
1 tablespoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 tablespoon garam masala
2 tablespoon oil
salt to taste

Method

1. Chop all the vegetables roughly (the beauty of this recipe is that you don't have to worry about finesse in chopping the veggies)
2. Heat oil in a pan on a medium flame, add cumin and let it splutter.
3. Now add green chillies, sauté for half a minute.
4. Then add following vegetables in the same order and saute each for a minute- onions, garlic, capsicum, tomatoes, ginger.
5. Now add all the spices and keep stirring the mixture on a medium flame.
6. You should see the mixture coming together and leaving oil.
7. Now let the mixture cool down completely and blend it to a coarse paste.
8. Store in a dry airtight container and refrigerate.

Notes: Depending on which curry you are making use the amount of curry base.
I usually use 2 tablespoons of this base for making following curries for 4 people- palak paneer, shahi kaju paneer, capsicum mushroom masala, garbanzo bean curry(chole), red bean curry (rajma).


The base should look like this before blending after step 6, not a pretty picture but wait till it shows its magic in curries :)

Kaju Makhane Paneer (Dryfruits and Cottage cheese curry)

Here is an exquisite curry made of dry fruits and paneer.  I made this with several hit and trials and the final result had such irresistible flavor and aroma that couldn’t even wait to take a pic..Will post the pic when I cook it again J..

Ingredients:

2 cups makhane(Fox nuts)

1 and half cup Cashews

100 gm Paneer(cottage cheese)(Cut in 1 inch cubes)

1 cup malai (heavy cream)

2 cups milk

1 teaspoon khus khus (poppy seeds)

2 tablespoon oil

1 medium size onion

1 small piece ginger, 4 cloves garlic and green chillies

2 tomatoes(paste)

1 pinch haldi(turmeric powder)

1 teaspoon coriander powder, chilli powder

1 teaspoon Garam masala

Salt to taste

Method:

1.    Soak khus khus and half cup cashews in little water or milk for 1 hour and make a smooth paste in a blender.

2.    Roast makhane and 1 cup cashews in ghee for few minutes till they turn crispy.

3.    Make a paste of onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies in a blender.

4.    Heat oil in a pan and add this paste.

5.    Fry well till it leaves oil, add turmeric powder, coriander powder, chilli powder and then tomato paste.

6.    Fry for few minutes till this mixture leaves oil.

7.    Now add khus khus, cashew paste followed by cream, stir for few seconds.

8.    Add milk, salt, garam masla and let it simmer on low flame till it comes to a boil.

9.    Now add paneer cubes, roasted makhane and kaju and cook on low flame for around 4-5 minutes.
 

10.  Garnish with cilantro.

Your sumptuous curry is ready to eat! Tastes equally good with hot fulkas, naans, paranthas or puri..(Pic coming soon)