Category: side dish for roti

Qeema (Keema) Mushroom

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BM #114 : Week 4, Day 2
Theme : A-Z theme, Curries

Today’s alphabet is Q and a curry starting with that alphabet is not an easy find :-). So I have gone for an alternate spelling of Keema/Kheema here. Qeema means minced/ground meat and the curry made using it is also called qeema. There are a lot of options available now for vegetarians by substituting the meat with soya or mushrooms or tofu. It’s not technically speaking qeema, since there is no meat. But recipe is same as the one for meat, so it’s called vegetarian qeema.

Coming to the recipe here, I went for the mushroom qeema since that’s what I had. Expect for the qeema part, the base is the same onion and tomato gravy with the regular masalas. But the finely minced mushrooms lended a completely different taste to the curry.

There are many ways to prepare this curry. The one I followed suggested cooking the mushrooms first and mincing it using a blender. A food processor would work well too. If you are using a blender make sure that you don’t puree the mushrooms and are just make a very coarse mix to resemble qeema.

Read on for the recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 1 teaspoon oil
  • 200 gms mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped finely
  • 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
  • 2 medium tomatoes, chopped finely
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1.5 teaspoon coriander powder
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • 1/4 cup green peas, optional
  • salt to taste
  • Coriander leaves to sprinkle

Method:

  1. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a pan. Add sliced mushrooms. Sauté until it’s cooked. Strain and reserve the water. Remove the mushrooms to a bowl and wait for it to cool completely. Once it’s cooled down, pulse couple of times in a blender to get a very roughly chopped mix. Be careful not to puree it. Set aside for now.
  2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in the same pan. Add finely chopped onions and sauté until it turns pink. Add the ginger garlic paste, chopped tomatoes and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the masala powders now – chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt. Add green peas too, if using. Mix well and cook until tomatoes are very soft and completely mushy.
  3. Now add the coarse ground mushrooms to this. Add the reserved water and mix well. Cook for 5-6 minutes or until the curry reaches the consistency you prefer, taste test and adjust seasonings. Remove from the heat and serve with rice or roti.

Paneer Mushroom Curry

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BM #114 : Week 4, Day 1
Theme : A-Z theme, Curries

This month’s alphabets for the A-Z theme are P, Q and R. I finished Q first since that’s the difficult one but for P, I knew it was going to be paneer. I have an Instant Pot Palak Paneer recipe, but decided to make this curry since I had some paneer and mushroom to be used up. I came across this recipe in YouTube and gave it a try.

My husband and son loved this curry. My husband loved the flavor of yogurt here. The recipe calls for fried onions, I used the store bought one, but you can make it at home as well. You can skip it if you don’t have it, but it gives a good flavor, so it’s definitely good to add it.

Coming from Southern part of India, rice is a must for us. It’s a good thing that these kind of Curries pair with rice as well. What I do sometimes is serve this with rice for lunch and serve it again with chapati for dinner. That way it doesn’t feel like you are eating the same curry again.

Read on for the recipe.

Recipe source: Cook Book (YouTube)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup diced paneer
  • 3 cups sliced mushrooms
  • 1/4 cup yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
  • 2 finely chopped green chilies or per taste
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped coriander leaves
  • 2 tablespoons fried onions
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder (or per taste)
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • Salt as needed
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped finely
  • 1 medium tomato
  • 1 teaspoon ground almonds
  • 1 teaspoon dry desiccated coconut

Method:

  1. In a big bowl, add the diced paneer and mushrooms. To this, add the yogurt, ginger garlic paste, chopped green chilies, chopped coriander, fried onions, chili powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and salt. Mix carefully until the paneer and mushrooms are well coated with the yogurt mixture. Set aside.
  2. In a mixer jar, grind almonds(or cashews) with the desiccated coconut. Once it’s powdered well, add chopped tomatoes and make a purée out of it. Set aside.
  3. Heat oil or ghee in a pan. Add finely chopped onions and cook until it turns pink. Now add the tomato almond purée and cook for a couple of minutes. Reduce heat to medium low.
  4. Add the paneer mushroom mixture and cover cook until the mushrooms are done. Keep mixing in between to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. You can add a little water if the curry looks dry. Taste test and adjust seasonings. Take off the heat and serve with cooked basmati rice or roti.

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Okra curry with coconut and sesame seeds

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BM #113 : Week 4, Day 3
Theme : A-Z Curries

A typical South Indian meal includes rice, sambar of some kind and one or two veggie side dishes. On the days when I am not in a mood to cook all this, I just make a curry and serve with plain basmati rice or jeera rice. This is one such curry I had made with some ladies finger I had at home. When I saw this recipe in Vegan Richa’s Indian cooking book. I wanted to try it out. I have never had this combination of sesame seeds and coconut with okra, I am glad I tried this recipe, because it’s a keeper!

It doesn’t take a lot of time to prepare this recipe. It involves cooking of okra first and then making of the masala. The masala is a little different from the usual onion tomato base because of the addition of sesame seeds and coconut. It lends a nice and different taste to this gravy. This is slightly thick curry, but you can adjust it to your preference.

Read on for the recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoon oil, divided
  • 4 cups okra, cut into 1” pieces
  • 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1” piece of ginger
  • 1 medium tomato, chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
  • 2 tablespoons dry coconut flakes
  • Salt as needed

Method:

  1. Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a wide pan. Add the okra and cook, stirring in between, until it’s done and slightly crisp on the edges. Transfer to a bowl and set aside for now.
  2. In the same pan, add a teaspoon of oil and add the coriander and cumin. Once the sesame seeds starts changing color, add the chopped onions, ginger and garlic. Sauté until onions are cooked.
  3. Add the spice powders next – chili powder, turmeric, garam masala and salt. Once it’s all well mixed, add the tomatoes along with sesame seeds and coconut. Cook until the tomatoes are done and mushy. Take off the heat, let it cool completely and transfer to a blender jar.
  4. Make a paste of the onion, tomato, coconut mixture, adding about 1/2 cup water to make it a smooth paste.
  5. Add this puree back to the pan and bring it to a boil. Add the cooked okra and let everything cook on a low flame for about ten minutes. You can add more water to bring it to a consistency you like. Taste and adjust seasonings. Take off the heat and serve with rice or roti.

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Nimona – green peas curry

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BM #113 : Week 4, Day 2
Theme : A-Z Curries

This curry has been on my bookmark list for a long long time now. I had this is my mind for the alphabet G ( green peas curry), H (hare matar ka nimona), M (matar ka nimona) and finally am doing it for N. This is an easy to do recipe, almost all the ingredients are staples for me. I always have frozen peas at home and that’s what I used for today’s recipe after thawing.

This is the first time I am preparing and my family loved this dish. I already have requests for repeats 😁. I served this with jeera rice and it was a good combination. Plain rice or roti would also pair well with this curry.

I followed the recipe from this YouTube video for most part. I saw another video which didn’t use onions and used puréed tomatoes. I might try that version the next time. This particular video didn’t use any masala powders, but I went ahead and added it anyway.

Read on for the recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 3-4 tablespoons oil/ghee, divided
  • 1 medium potato, diced
  • 2 cups green peas
  • 1 medium onion, sliced into long pieces
  • 2 medium tomatoes, sliced into long pieces
  • half a bunch of coriander leaves
  • 3 green chilies
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 2” piece of ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon coriander powder
  • Salt as needed

Method:

  1. Pulse the green peas in a blender jar couple of times until it’s a rough coarse paste. If you are using frozen peas, it needs to be thawed before using.
  2. Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a pan. Add the cubed potatoes and cook for a couple of minutes. Now add the ground green peas paste. Cook for about 8-10 minutes, mixing frequently to ensure it doesn’t burn.
  3. Remove from heat, transfer the peas mixture into a bowl. Set aside for now.
  4. Make a paste of the green chilies, ginger, garlic and coriander leaves without adding any water. Keep aside.
  5. In a clean pan, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil or ghee. Once it’s hot, add the onions. Sauté until it turns pink. Add the tomatoes, turmeric powder, chili powder, coriander powder and salt. Mix well and cook for a couple of minutes until the tomatoes are mushy. Add the ground coriander paste now. Keep stirring to avoid burning. Keep cooking tomatoes are completely done and mushy.
  6. Add the green peas and potato mixture to the pan now. Mix well, cook for a minute or two. Add 2 cups of water and once it comes to a boil, turn the heat to low and let it boil for about 10 minutes. You can add more water to suit the consistency you prefer. Turn off the flame after ten minutes. Serve hot with rice or roti.

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