Masala Bhare Baigan - Stuffed Brinjal

If you have guests coming over for lunch or dinner and you want to plate a side dish to go with the main menu, Masala Bhare Baigan can be a good option. Again as I always say, every dish has many recipes, likewise this dish can also be prepared in many way; however, this particular preparation has won many accolades among my friends and relatives. This recipe is again easy and quick to prepare and does not require you around while its cooking. 

The below mentioned ingredients are enough to serve 2-3 people. 

Ingredients:


Fresh coriander leaves - 1 hand-full 
Green Chilies - 2
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste 
Red chili flakes - 1 tbsp
Red chili powder - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tbspn   
Dry pomegranate powder/ dry mango powder - 1/2 tbsp
Roasted poppy seeds - 1 tbsp 
Onion medium size - 1 grated 

Lebanese brinjals - 4-5 Slit length-wise with stem intact 

Recipe:

• Coarsely grind coriander leaves, green chilies, and roasted poppy seeds. 
• Now empty this mixture in a bowl and add grated onions, turmeric powder, salt, dry pomegranate powder/ dry mango powder, red chili powder, red chili flakes and mix it well.
• Stuff this mixture in all the slit parts of the brinjals and keep them aside. 

• Heat the oil in a pan (take a wide pan big enough to accommodate all the brinjals together side by side)  and add all the brinjals to it. Cover the pan and let the brinjals cook over a low flame. 

• You don't need to toss the brinjals, just flip the sides after 10 minutes and keep a check so that they don't burn. 
• Your dish will be ready in good 20-25 minutes.    

Hope you will like it!!

Happy Eating :)

Sookhe Aloo Matar - Dry Potato and Peas

All of us at some point in our life have found ourselves standing with refrigerator door open and staring into an almost empty vegetable shelf. 

For times like these when either we have run short of options or our minds are too exhausted to think; some basic age old recipes come to our rescue. Once such preparation is commonly called -Sukhe Aloo Matar in Indian households.

It is an absolute non - complex preparation with basic ingredients. The recipe and quantity listed below is enough to serve 3.   

Ingredients:

Potatoes medium size - 3 peeled and diced 
Onion large - 1 peeled and diced 
Green Chili - 2 slit and chopped 
Green peas - 1 cup full
Oil
Cumin Seeds
Salt
Red Chili powder 
Turmeric powder 
Red chili flakes
Asafetida (hing) - a pinch 

Recipe:

• Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan and add asafetida and cumin seeds to it and cook until swollen. 
• Now add diced onion and stir until translucent. To this add peas and potatoes and give it a mix. 
• Now add salt to taste, 1 tbsp red chili powder, half tbsp turmeric powder and red chili flakes and give it a nice mix, cover the pan and let it cook on low flame.  
• No need to add water to this recipe. Potatoes and peas will cook in the steam. However, do not forget to stir it every 3-4 minutes. 
• Scrape the mixture that is stuck to the bottom of the pan (this adds up to the taste) every time you stir.  
• Your dish will be ready in 20-25 minutes. 

Hope you will like it!

Happy Eating :)

Garam Masala Chicken

Chicken Fry is a dish that can be made in many ways and with different ingredients. Everyone has a different style of preparing this dish and hence their different names - Zeera Chicken, Garam Masala Chicken, Chicken Fry and many more.

Previously I have uploaded the recipe for Zeera Chicken. Today, I am sharing this wonderfully easy recipe for Garam Masala Chicken. 

Ingredients:

Chicken - 400 grms 
Ginger-garlic paste - 3 tbsp  
Oil
Mace - 1 whole 
Amchur powder (raw mango powder)- ½ tsp  
Jeera powder (cumin seed powder)- 1 tsp  
Pepper powder- 1 tsp of 
Green chilies - 2 slit and chopped 
Dhaniya powder (coriander powder) - 1 tsp  
Salt to taste
Cardamoms - 3-4 whole 
Aniseed -1 whole
Cloves - 3-4 whole
Black cardamoms - 1 whole 
Cinnamon sticks - 2-3 whole 

Procedure

• Heat oil in a kadai/ deep frying pan and add all the whole spices and toss until swollen. 
• Add the ginger-garlic paste and stir at low flame until golden brown.
• Now add the chicken pieces and stir well on the low flame.
• Add little salt once the chicken changes colour. 
• Now cover the kadai/ deep frying pan with a lid and let the chicken cook for 15-20 mins. TIP: Use a metal plate with little water on it to cover the kadai/ deep frying pan, so that the chicken does not stick to the bottom
• Add the jeera powder (cumin powder), pepper powder, dhaniya powder, amchur powder and mix well. Let it cook and seep into the chicken well.

Your dish is ready. You can have as a starter or with Paratha. 

Hope you will like it!!

Happy Eating :)

Thai Food Festival @ Deccan Pavilion ITC Kakatiya

Thai Food Essentials @ Deccan Pavilion ITC Kakatiya Hyderabad

From my days in Bangalore, I have had a liking for Thai cuisine. What makes this cuisine special is its simplicity and aromas. Finally I got a chance to enjoy authentic Thai food this weekend in Hyderabad at Deccan Pavilion at ITC Kakatiya as they announced the launch of their Week- long Thai Food Festival. This food festival is on up-to Sunday, 24th March 2013 and is available for lunch and dinner. It is in a buffet format that comes at Rs. 1199 for vegetarian and Rs. 1299 for non - vegetarians. 

The Buffet was an interesting mix of salads, starters, main course and desserts. I started with veg Tom Yum soup that was light in texture, tangy and spicy in flavor and had big pieces of juicy mushrooms. It had a beautiful lemongrass aroma - an important and must have Thai kitchen ingredient. 

Starters:

Starters were a delight as I got to taste Silicon Tofu - a simple preparation that was crispy from outside and extremely smooth and soft from inside.  

Silicon Tofu

Corn Cakes 

Corn Cakes were another veggies delight served with a red sweet and sour corn sauce. 

Prawn Salad 

Non-vegetarians too had a great time with Chicken Cashew and Prawn Salad.

Chicken Cashew

   

Main Course and Desserts:

Main course was a mix of Thai curry and rice which was again flavorful and  nutty. We finished the meal with desserts but it was a task to pick and choose our favorites from the  many options available ranging from Indian sweets, to souffle, puddings, brownies to cakes and others.

Sweet Encounters 

ITC Kakatiya's 1st ever Thai Food Festival is being driven by Master Chef Som Wang, Executive Chef Shekhar and their team. I would like to congratulate both the chefs for putting together a delectable meal and for being wonderful hosts. 

Chef Shekhar - I had a great time and will be coming back for more!!

With Master Chef Som Wang, Akshita and Executive Chef  Shekhar @ ITC Kakatiya 

Ratings:

Ambiance- 3/5

Staff - 4/5

Service - 4/5

Food - 4/5

Value for Money - Yes 

Happy Eating :)

Aloo Paratha

Aloo Parathas have always been the most favored ones when it comes to stuffed parathas.  For this  delicious Punjabi breakfast, best condiment one can have is butter that adds - in lot of flavor and of course brings in some more extra calories :)

This recipe is my experiment and came out really well. The below mentioned ingredients are enough for a breakfast for 3.

Ingredients:

1. Potatoes- 3 (boiled, peeled and finely mashed) 
2. Onion medium size- 1 (made into paste without water)
3. chili flakes (optional)- 2 tbspn 
4. Oregano (optional)- 2 tbspn 
5. Kasuri methi -1 tbspn crushed 
6. Salt to taste 
7. Red chili powder - 1 tbspn 
8. Amchoor/ Anardana - 1/3 tbspn
9. Cumin powder - 1 tbspn
10. Coriander Powder - 1 tbspn
11. Green Chili - 1 finely chopped 
12. Coriander leaves (optional)- finely chopped
13. Mint Leaves (optional)- Finely chopped  
14. Kneaded dough
15. Dry Flour 
16. Butter 

Recipe:

• Take a bowl and mix all the ingredients from 1 to 13 into a fine mixture. 
• Take a small ball of kneaded dough (size of a big lemon). To it, add a pinch of salt and dash of butter. Now mix the salt and butter with the dough well. Once done, make it into a smooth round ball again and flatten it on your palm. 
• Now dust this flattened dough with dry flour and roll it out into a tiny base.
• Add - in 1-2 spoons of the mixture to the flat dough. Make it into a ball again to seal the mixture. 
• One tip over here is to flatten this stuffed ball with your palm until it is significantly big and finally use the 'belan' to give it 1-2 final rounds of touches and put it on the tawa and make it like usual parathas. To enhance the taste, suggest applying butter on the paratha while cooking instead of ghee or oil. 

Serve it hot with mint or coriander chutney/ tomato sauce/ curd/ or pickle. 

Hope you will like it too!

Happy Eating :)

Baigan Ka Bharta

Ever since I remember, I have relished 'Egg Plant' in all its forms. But my most favorite egg plant recipe is 'Baigan ka Bharta'. Everyone loves their mom's food and so do I but I have honestly not come across a better baigan bharta than what my mom makes. 

Due to my liking for the dish, I have sort of mastered the recipe, however, mommy's touch remains missing!! 

Ingredients:

Big Brinjal - 1 
Large Onion chopped-1 
Large tomatoes chopped - 2
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tbspn (ready-made not recommended)
Green Chilies slit - 2 
Peeled garlic cloves - 7-8  
Coriander for garnish 
Cooking oil
Salt
Turmeric powder
Red chilly powder
Amchoor powder
Coriander powder
Garam Masala (optional)
Cumin seeds 

Recipe:

Roasting

• Cut slits on the binjal with a knife and insert peeled garlic cloves into it.  
• Now roast the brinjal by putting it directly onto the gas burner with low/medium flame. Keep turning it every 4-5 minutes. 
• After good 20 - 25 minutes, you will notice that the brinjal has shrunk and has wrinkled skin that can be easily peeled off and garlic and brinjal juices oozing out. 
• Turn the flame off and put the brnjal into a bowl full of water.
• After the brinal comes to the room temperature, you can take it out of water and peel off the skin. 
• Lay the binjal flat on a chopping board and with a knife carefully prick, cut long slits on the brinjal. As you do this also carefully check the brinjal for any worms.  

Cooking:

• In a pan, heat some oil and add cumin seeds. 
• Now add ginger garlic paste and let it cook. Once done, add chopped onions. Idea is to make onions translucent. 
• Once the onions turn pinkish, add tomatoes to it along with salt, turmeric powder, chilly powder, coriander powder and amchoor powder and close the lid and let this cook at low flame. 
• Keep checking and stirring it every 2-3 minutes until it turns reddish and oil starts to show off on the sides.
• Once the masala is done, add roasted brinjal to this along with green chilies and coriander. Close the lid and let it cook for 15 minutes but keep stirring it every 2-3 minutes. Here we are 'bhunoing' the bharta which adds up to the taste of the dish. 
• If you like, you can sprinkle a pinch of garam masala to this in the end. 

It seems laborious, but it is a very simple dish and comes out really well. You can also put green peas into this. 

Hope you will like it. 

Happy Eating :) 

Review - Minerva Coffee Shop

If you are looking for 'not a grand' restaurant in Hyderabad with good food you can include this restaurant in your list.  Set up in a simple manner, the ambiance is kept very basic but they have paid good heed to cleanliness and hygiene. 

The menu includes mostly a typical mix of South Indian, North Indian and Chinese. We ordered 1 South Indian meals and  Chinese noodles and Manchurian. Meals were good and sumptuous. For Chinese food lovers, we ordered,  Butter Garlic Noodles which was absolutely delicious. Manchurian was good too. All in all not a costly affair and good taste. 

My ratings:
Ambiance - 2.5/5
Food - 3.5/5
Service - 3.5/5 

Tehri

Came back tired from work today. Was hungry but wasn't in the mood to stand for too long in the kitchen so thought of trying my hands on Tehri. It was all a guess work though I believe, some experience in kitchen leaves you with lean chances of going wrong too often (wink wink). 

This is a simple recipe and can be prepared in just 20- 30 mins in a pressure cooker.

Ingredients: 

Rice (1 small cup)
Yellow moong dal (half small cup) 
Water (3 small cups) 
Chili Flakes 
Dry Whole Red Chili - 2 
Big Onion julienne - 1
Tomato thick slices - 1
Two Green Chilies whole - 2
Potatoes cut into small pieces - 2 medium size 
Peas 
Turmeric powder
Red Chili Powder 
Salt
Kasuri Methi - crushed 
Whole Bay Leaf - 1
Black Cardamom - 1
Green Cardamoms - 2
Amchoor - a pinch 
Cinnamon sticks - 2 medium size
Cumin seeds 
Oil

Recipe:

• Heat some oil in the pressure cooker. 
• Add cumin seeds,  whole dry red chilly, cardamons, cinnamon sticks, bay leaf and let them cook. 
• Once all the whole spices swell up, add onions and fry them until translucent (don't let the colour change), add potatoes and fry for 2 mins followed by peas, tomatoes and green chilies.
• Now add rice, dal and water to the pressure cooker and let it boil.
• Add turmeric powder, red chili powder, salt, amchoor, red chili flakes and  kasuri methi to this. Close the lid and allow the ingredients to cook on a low flame. 
• After two whistles on the low flame, turn the flame to high for one more whistle and then put the flame off. 
• This quantity serves 3 people.

It sounds spicy however, the spices are just enough to give the right flavor and aroma. It goes very well with curd. We loved it hope you will like it too.

Happy Eating:) 

Review - Bhojohori Manna

If you have been through my blog earlier, you would know by now that I am an out an out Bengali cuisine fan. And since it is time for me to review my favorite Bengali restaurant in Bangalore, it has to be special. During the 5 years of my stay in Bangalore, Bhojohori came very close to my heart as I had some great memories and moments with my friends and loved ones enjoying and yum yumming the food served here. 

I would specially like to mention my best friend Malvika Sinha here as it was 'her' company that made the memories special and food even more yummlicious for me. We were frequent weekenders at Bhojohori :D and sometimes even visited during the weekdays. 

It is a simply done restaurant but I love the 'bong' touch in every bit of thing they do. Right from the furniture, to the wall paintings to the music ..aaahhhh sheer nostalgia!!

Coming to food, I must admit here that my menu for all my visits remained the same and I can repeat it even further going 100 years forward. So my all time menu was something like this:

Starters:

             

Pomphret Fry 

Fish Fry 

Fish chops

Main Course:

Mutton Dakbangala

Katla Kalia

Mutton Dakbangala and Luchi

Ilish Shorshe 

Dessert:

Ice -cream

The starters are simple yet tasty. The fish fry is kind of interesting with the way they fry it in spiced rice flour. The starters and the main course is usually accompanied with a shorshe (mustard seeds) chutney - mustard seeds ground into paste and cooked in mustard oil. 

Moving on to the main course, Mutton Dakbangala is an interesting name like the dish itself. Most commonly it is called Kosha Mangsho which has a very rich and thick gravy with many many spices and flavors. This is probably the best mutton dish I have had so far. In fish, we always ordered Ilish Shorshe. Ilish enjoys the position of being the most tasty and costly fish in a Bengali kitchen. This fish preparation is by far the best too. Next dish is Katla Kalia, another mouth watering dark brown gravy with Katla fish. Mutton Dakbangala  is best accompanied with Luchi (puri made in maida) and both the fish preparations go best with rice. 

Our yumyumming marathon always came to an end with the most delicious ice - cream in the world. This is a very special ice - cream that they get from Kolkata. It is a kind of think rabri frozen in tiny clay pots and quoted with melted cold jaggery syrup. The taste of this ice - cream is way beyond any description. Due to jaggery, it has just the rigth amount of sweetness and the rabri has a very smooth texture which looks frozen but it melts down your mouth and senses. 

My advise, pre-book your ice - creams at the time of placing an order because they usually run out of it.

The menu has good number of options and all the dishes are reasonably priced. For this entire menu for 2-3 people, we paid something around Rs. 800 - Rs. 1000 max. 

Rest all is a memory and only one thing remains - 'Aami Tomake Bhalobashi Bhojohori Manna'!!

Happy Eating :)

   

    

Easy Fish Fry

I follow www.indiafoodnetwork.in. It is a very interesting food network featuring many recipe videos. 

I particularly like recipes by Veena here as her recipes are very simple and easy to remember. Sharing here one of her recent posts of Fish Fry. Hope you will like it too!! 

Happy Eating :)