Cauliflower Curry

Again I am here after a really long time. I guess this is how it is going to be for some time now. Posts after long intervals. Anyways, I was wondering what new to make with cauliflower when I happened to stumble upon this recipe on the blog Gastronome by Choice. It looked yummy, so I tried it out and found out that it tastes yummy too. Only difference was that I added a potato to the dish because i love potato with cauliflower.

Ingredients:

Cauliflower, cut into bite sized florets: 1

Potato: 2 diced

Onion Paste: 200 gm

Ginger-Garlic Paste: 20 gm

Cashew Paste: 100 gm

Poppy Seed Paste: 50 gm

Tomato Paste: 100 gm

Coconut, grated: 20 gm

Red Chili Powder: 10 gm

Turmeric Powder: 5 gm

Cumin Powder: 10 gm

Coriander Powder: 10 gm

Bay Leaf: 1

Salt: To Taste

Oil: as per required
Method:

1. Heat the oil. Add in the bay leaf.

2. Add in the onion paste. Saute till golden brown.

3. Add ginger-garlic paste and fry for a bit. Add the potatoes.

4. Add the red chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder & turmeric powder.

5. Add the tomato paste. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

6. Add poppy seed paste & cashew paste.

7. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

8. Add the cauliflower florets. Mix well and cook for 2-3 minutes.

9. Add the grated coconut.

10. Add 1 cup of water. cook and bring to boil.

11. Simmer for 3-4 minutes. Add salt.

12. Cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from flame and serve hot.

Prawn Biryani

I am back after a long time...again. Wanted to make something that I had not eaten for a long time, so decided to make Prawn Biryani. I browsed the Internet like crazy, and finally I found the simplest recipe on YouTube. It was so easy to make. I decided to make it and since only my mom and I were here, I made only a bit. The chef in the video did not give the quantity for any of the ingredients, so neither am I.

Soak Basmati Rice for 30 mins. Marinate the prawns for some time with ginger garlic paste, salt, chili powder and coriander powder.

Boil water for the rice. When the water just starts to boil, add oil, salt, shahi jeera(Black cumin seeds), cloves, cardamon, cinnamon, black pepper and a bay leaf. When the water is boiling well, add rice. The rice should be cooked till it is 85 to 90% done. Drain and keep aside.

Heat oil. Add cardamon, cinnamon, cloves, mace and cumin seeds. When they start spluttering, add the prawns and fry. Add prawns bit by bit. If all the prawns together they will leave a lot of moisture, and then instead of frying, the prawns will boil and we want the prawns fried, not boiled. Fry for around 3 mins or till 50% cooked.

Remove the prawn and retain the oil in the same vessel. To this oil, add curd, and mix it well. Next add chopped green chillies, coriander leaves, mint leavers, salt, biryani masala and fried onions.

Then add the prawns and mix well once. Spread it in the dish. Add the rice on it and spread. Sprinkle coriander leaves, fried onion, garam masala powder(cloves, cinnamon, cardamon and black pepper) and saffron diluted in water.

Cover with an air tight lid and cook on low flame for around 7-10 mins.

When done, mix well and serve hot.

Rawa Idli

Yesterday I was wondering snack to give my 3 year old boy before he goes cycling, so I decided to go through a few blogs to get ideas. I found Rawa Idli in Suma's Cusine. I had heard of it, but never tasted it. It looked very simple to make, and the best part of it was that I had all the ingredients. Only thing I did not add from the recipe was the cashewnuts because my boy does not like them. The whole thing did not look as wonderful as hers did, but my son and my husband loved it.  Here I have posted the recipe without the cashew nuts and the chillies. It is the same as Suma's. Thanks Suma. 

Ingredients:

Rawa: 1 cup

Curd: 1/2 cup

Water: 1/2 cup

Onion: 1 medium chopped

Carrot: 1 big grated

Ginger: 1 tsp grated

Mustard Seeds: 1 tsp

Channa dal: 1 tsp

Urad dal: 1 tsp

Curry Leaves: a few

Oil: a bit

Salt: as per  taste

Method:

1) Heat oil. Add mustard seeds. When they start spluttering, add channa and urad dal and fry till they turn brown. Then add the curry leaves,  ginger,  carrot and the onion. Fry for some time.

2) Add the rawa to this and let it roast for sometime.

3) Transfer the contents in a bowl and let it cool.

4) Add the curd, water and salt, and mix well. There should be no lumps. It should be of the same consistency as normal idli batter.

5) Grease the idli tray with oil. Spoon the mixture into this and 

steam on medium heat for 10-15 minutes. 

Khichidi with Labra

Last night my mom came home. We all suddenly had the urge to eat khichidi. With khichidi we normally eat an omlette or fish fry. Yesterday, since I was making khichidi, I thought of making Labra as well.

Labra is a mixed vegetable usually eaten with khichdi by Bengalis during Durga Puja bhog. We go to the Pandals set up for the Puja and relish the Labra Khichidi combo.The recipe for Labra I got from my mashi (my mom's sister). I think she is a wonderful cook, and this is her recipe. The Labra should be made with slightly more oil than normal, and the preferred oil is mustard oil,though any oil can be used. 

The Khichidi is more tasty if it is of a watery consistency. 

Ingredients for the Khichidi:

Roasted Moong Dal: 1 cup

Rice: 1 cup

Cauliflower: around 100gms

Carrot: around 100gms

Potatoes: around 100gms

Green Peas: 1/2cup

Cumin seeds: 1/2tbsp

Bay Leaves: 2-3

Green Chilli: 2-3

Ginger grated: 1tbsp

Turmeric Powder: 1 tsp

Sugar: a pinch

Salt: as per taste

Ghee/Oil: as required

Method:

1) Dry roast the moong dal and wash. Roast the dal till you get the wonderful aroma of the dal. Make sure that the dal does not burn.

2) Wash the rice and the dal and drain.

3) The vegetables need to be cut in big pieces so that they don't melt while cooking.

4) In a bit of ghee or oil, slightly fry all the vegetables and keep aside.

5) In a deep dish, heat ghee or oil. Add the cumin seeds.

6) When they begin to splutter, add the bay leaves, grated ginger and 

 green chilli.

7) Fry for some time, then add the dal and the rice.

8) Add enough water to cover the dal and rice.

9) When it looks creamy, add the vegetables, turmeric powder, salt and sugar.

10) Cover and cook. Keep checking, stirring and adding water when required. 

11) The more water you add,the bigger the grains will become.

12) Once the dal has melted, and the rice looks as cooked as possible, the khichidi is done.

13) Serve hot with a little extra ghee for added taste, or wait for the Labra.

Ingredients for the Labra:

Pumpkin: around 100gms

Cabbage: around 100gms

Raddish: around 100gms

Potato: around 100gms

Raw banana: around 100gms

Cauliflower leaves: around 50gms

Sprouts: 1/2 cup

Paanch Phoron: 1tbsp (Fenugreek seeds, Nigella seeds, Mustard seeds, Fennal seeds and cumin seeds)

Ginger grated: 1tbsp

Red chilli: 3-4

Green chilli: 2-3

Bay Leaves: 2-3

Turmeric powder: 1tsp

Cumin seeds: 1tbsp

Coriander seeds: 1/2tsp

Salt: as per taste

Sugar: 1tsp

Oil: as required

Method:

1) Wash and cut all the vegetables into big oblong pieces.

2) In a little bit of oil, fry all the vegetables, except the cabbage and sprouts. Keep aside.

3) Dry roast the cumin seeds and the coriander seeds till it does not have the raw smell. Grind to a fine powder and keep aside.

4) In hot oil, add the red chilli, bay leaves and paanch phoron.

5) When they start spluttering, add all the vegetables, except the cabbage. The cabbage is added later as it becomes squishy very fast.

6) Mix well and then add the green chilli, grated ginger, salt, sugar and turmeric powder. 

7) Mix and fry well for sometime, sprinkling a bit of water if and when required.

8) Add enough water to cover the vegetables, and cover and cook.

9) When the vegetables are nearly cooked, added the cabbage and cook.

10) When all the vegetables have nearly melted and are squishy, add the cumin-coriander powder, mix, and remove from the flame.

Serve hot with the khichdi.

Microwave Mustard Hilsa Fish

The Hilsa fish is a favourite among most Bengalis. Hilsa can be smoked or fried or steamed or baked in banana leaves or made with mustard seed paste. This was made by my dad and all the pictures were also taken by him. He knew I wanted to put it on my blog. It is very simple to make. Another way to make this would be to just apply turmeric powder and salt to the fish and fry them in mustard oil. The fish used here was not very big. The bigger the fish the tastier it is. Ingredients:

Hilsa Fish: 900 gms
Mustard oil: 2tbsp

Turmeric powder: 1tbsp or less

Green chilli (Slit): 2

Salt: to taste

Method:

1) Clean and cut the fish. Make slits on them so that the marinate can enter the pieces.

2) Make the marinade, by mixing the mustard oil, turmeric powder, salt and green chill.

3) Apply the marinade to the fish pieces and leave it for around 20 to 30 minutes.

4) Put the fish in a microwaveable dish and put it in the microwave for around 9 minutes. If the fish is bigger, then it will take more time to cook.

5) Cooking in the microwave. Once done, serve hot with rice.

Sabudana Khichidi

Happy New Year!!I am back after a very long time. This time I will make sure there are more posts on my blog than before. I will start with Sabudana(tapioca) Khichidi. I am not very fond of sabudana, but most of my family members love it. This was the first time I made it.
Ingredients:

Sabudana: 1 cupPotatoes (90% boiled): 1 medium

Roasted peanuts (without the skin) 1/4 cup

Mustard seeds: 1 tsp

Cumin seeds: 1 tsp

Green chillies 2

Curry leaves: 1 sprig

Sugar: 1 tsp

Coconut (grated): 2 tbsp

Lemon juice 1 tbsp (1/2 lemon)

Oil: 2 tbsp

Salt: as per taste

Corriander Leaves for garnidhing
Method:

1) Wash one cup of sabudana in water. Soak sabudana in water for 30 to 45 mins and then drain the water and spread it on a plate to dry for around 8 hours.

2) Grind the roasted peanuts into small peices. The powder should not be too fine.

3) Cut the boiled potatoes into small cubes.

4) Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, when it starts popping, add the cumin seeds, green chillies and curry leaves.

5) Add the potatoes, salt, sugar and fry well.

6) Add the sabudana, mix well, cover the it and cook on low flame for approximately 5 mins.

7) Now add the peanut powder and the coconut. Cook for 1min.

8) Squeeze the lemon and sprinkle corriander leaves(optional)
IMPORTANT: Do not sprinkle water at any given time.