Tag: lunch box

Imli Aloo

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BM #110 : Week 4, Day 3
Theme : A to Z theme – Curries

I had planned to make Ivy gourd curry for the alphabet‘I’ in this A-Z theme. But I forgot to buy the vegetable and my google search for an alternate dish took me to this Imli aloo recipe from Priya’s space. She had served the tangy potatoes with Horse gram curry. So that’s how I got the recipe for yesterday’s post :-).

Coming to the recipe here, it has cooked potatoes sautéed with the usual masalas, you can change according to your preference. Basically it’s a combination of salt, spice and tangy flavors because of the tamarind. Earlier when I used to squeeze tamarind pulp the traditional way, I used to always end up with multiple small cuts in my hand. It took me awhile to understand that tamarind was the culprit and once I realized that, I switched to the paste version and haven’t had any problems since then. Lemon also does the same thing to me sometimes, if I squeeze too much lemon, the next day it would be like someone nicked my knuckles with a teeny tiny blade.

Anyway, here is the recipe for tangy potatoes. These pair very well with rice and a gravy. Rice and yogurt with potatoes in the side is an excellent combination, my younger brother survived on that diet for the first 20 years of his life (don’t ask me how though, he was a picky eater and we just let him be!)

Ingredients:

  • 3 big potatoes, cooked
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon jeera seeds
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1 teaspoon coriander powder
  • 2 teaspoons tamarind Paste
  • Salt as needed

Method:

  1. Wash and Cook potatoes. I pressure cook them in Instant Pot for 1 minute in Manual Mode. Let the pressure release naturally and let the potatoes cool down. Once cool, peel the skin and dice it. Set aside.
  2. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds to it. Once it finishes popping, add jeera seeds and let it crackle. Add the masalas now to the oil, and the tamarind paste too. Mix everything well and tip in the potatoes. Mix carefully so that the masalas coat the potatoes evenly.
  3. Turn the heat down and let it cook for 4-5 minutes. Carefully turn the potatoes over without breaking it and let it cook for another couple of minutes. Take off the heat and serve with rice and yogurt or a curry of your choice.

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Horse-gram Curry

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BM #110 : Week 4, Day 2
Theme : A to Z theme – Curries

For today’s post, for the alphabet H, I had initially planned on Hare Matar ka Nimona. Then I came across this recipe for Horse gram masala at Priya’s place and I decided to prepare it. I have some horse gram that needs to be used up and this was perfect for it. There are made some modifications I made to Priya’s recipe, it’s more of Kerala style now.

The base recipe is very simple, it has three steps to it. First is soaking and cooking the horse gram. Priya suggests cooking with a good pinch of baking soda and that’s what I did. Second step is to make a coconut paste. That’s where the differences start. I decided to stick with the regular masala I prepare, which has coconut, dried red chilies and jeera. Now the third and final step is to prepare a tadka with mustard seeds and onions and to cook everything together. An optional way to make the curry thick is to purée half of the cooked (and cooled) horse gram and add it to to the curry or run an immersion blender couple of times.

This curry pairs well with rice and roti. It would be great with puttu or aapam also. Read on for the recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup horsegram , soaked overnight
  • A pinch of baking soda
  • 1/2 cup shredded coconut
  • 4 dried red chilies
  • 1 teaspoon jeera seeds
  • 4-5 almonds/cashews, optional
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 2 dried red chilies
  • A sprig of curry leaves
  • 1 small red onion, chopped finely
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 tomato, roughly chopped, optional
  • Salt as needed

Method:

  1. Check the horse gram for stones and once you have removed it all, wash and soak the beans overnight. The next day morning, pressure cook along with water it’s soaked and a good pinch of baking soda until the beans is cooked. I used the Beans setting in Instant Pot for 30 minutes. I also used the delay timer for 8 hours at night so that the beans was cooked by next morning. Reserve about 3/4 cup of the beans and set it aside to cool down.
  2. Grind shredded coconut along with 4 dried red chilies , jeera and almonds/cashews(if using) in a blender. Add about 1/4 cup water to make a smooth paste.
  3. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, dried red chilies and curry leaves. Once mustard seeds pop, add the chopped onions and sauté till it turns brown. Add the coconut paste, cooked horse gram along with the water it’s cooked, turmeric powder, chili powder and salt as needed. Mix well.
  4. Make a smooth paste of the reserved 3/4 cups horse gram and add it to the curry. Add water to bring it to a pouring consistency. You can add more water (or less) to suit the consistency you prefer.
  5. Taste test and adjust seasonings. Once the curry comes to a boil, let it cook for about 4-5 minutes and then turn off the heat. Serve with rice or roti.

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Fansi Dhokli Nu Shaak

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BM #109 : Week 2, Day 3
Theme : DEF – Curries

My family loves Gujarati food and that’s how I decided on this curry for today. Trust me – it wasn’t easy to find a dish starting with the alphabet F. Fansi is beans in Gujarati. There seems to be many versions to the basic beans curry, I went with the one with dumplings.

I have followed the method in this YouTube video for most part. The recipe usually involves making the dough for dhokli and the cooking it with beans and spices. The video I followed had onions and tomatoes in it too, so that’s what I did. Because of the wheat flour, the curry has a tendency to thicken up if you keep it for long. You might have to reheat it with some water to break it at the time of serving.

Read on for the recipe.

Ingredients:

For dhokli

  • 3 tablespoons chickpea flour/Besan
  • 3 tablespoons wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon coriander powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • Salt as needed
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • Water as needed to make dough

For Fansi

  • 2 teaspoon oil
  • 1 teaspoon jeera seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon carom seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon hing
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 medium tomato, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon grated ginger
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon coriander powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1.5 cups French beans, diced
  • Salt as needed
  • 1.5 cup water or more, as needed

Method:

  1. Make the dhokli first. In a mixing bowl, add the besan and wheat flour along with the spices, salt and oil. Mix to combine. Add water in steps and knead to make a soft smooth dough.
  2. Pinch off small balls from the dough. Keep the ball on your left palm and press it with your right thumb. You will get a small disc this way. Repeat with the rest of the dough and set the discs this aside.
  3. For the curry, heat oil in a pan. Add the Jeera, hing and carom seeds. Sauté the onions and when it turns pink, add the garlic paste. Now add the tomatoes, salt and the spices. Mix well, cover and cook for 3-5 minutes until the tomatoes are cooked and mushy. Add the beans and 1.5 cups water. Cover and cook for 8-10 minutes until the beans are almost done.
  4. Add the dhokli discs and add one more cup of water if needed. Cook for another 15 minutes or so, until the dhoklis are done. Taste test a piece to see whether it’s cooked through. Once it’s cooked, remove from heat and serve hot with rotis.

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Eggplant curry Instant Pot

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BM #109 : Week 2, Day 1
Theme : DEF – Curries

This week’s blogging theme is Curries in alphabetical order and for the alphabet E, it’s an eggplant curry. My initial plan was to make an egg curry in Instant Pot, but then this one sounded better to me.

Eggplant is not exactly a favorite veggie for most people. I don’t have eggplant haters at home, but at the same time no one requests for it too. But this curry changed that a bit. I have made this couple of times already since my husband likes it a lot.

I use Instant Pot a lot and so I ended up buying couple of cookbooks for it too. One of the books I use most is Archana Mundhe’s The Essential Indian Instant Pot cookbook and this recipe is from there. Every single recipe I tried has turned out great, so it’s a good book to invest if you have an Instant Pot and cook Indian food often. A big bonus with this recipe is that it’s not only tasty, but very very easy to put together too.

Read on for the recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 8 eggplants
  • 1 big onion, minced or grated
  • 1 tablespoon shredded coconut
  • 2 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
  • 2 teaspoon coriander powder
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • 1 teaspoon jaggery or brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • 1 cup water
  • Salt to taste

Method:

  1. From the round end of the eggplants, cut a ‘plus’ and cut through until you are close to the stem. Keep the stem intact so that its not cut into four pieces. Set aside.
  2. In a bowl, add the finely chopped onions, coconut, ginger garlic paste, coriander powder, chili powder, garam masala, jaggery and salt as needed. Mix everything well together.
  3. Carefully stuff the eggplants with the prepared mix. You will have some leftover, set it aside.
  4. Turn the Saute mode in Instant Pot. Heat oil. Add the stuffed eggplants. Turn off the Instant Pot and add one cup of water to the bowl. Slowly distribute the leftover filling on top of the eggplants.
  5. Switch to Manual mode for 5 minutes. You can let the pressure release naturally or do a quick release once it’s done.
  6. Once the pressure is released, if the gravy is runny, gently scrape the filling on top of the eggplant and add it to the gravy. Press the Sauté button and bring everything to a boil. This helps the gravy thicken a little bit more. Serve with rice or rotis.

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