Vegetable Pulao

A favourite potluck lunch, a meal in itself , full of flavours and healthy. Serve it on its own or bit of curd / raita on sides.

Serves 2

Rice - wash drain and keep aside 

Ghee (clarified butter) / Cooking oil -1 table spoon 

Onion -1 medium finely chopped

Ginger garlic paste (or crushed) -1 teaspoon

Tomato -1 table spoon purée or crushed 

Green chillies -  1 finely chopped

Vegetables - assorted chopped small - 1 cup

Spices (you can eliminate any if its not in pantry or you don't have a taste for it), I used 

Bay leaves -2 

Cinnamon - 2"stick

Peppers- 5/6

Cloves -2/3

Star anise -1

Mace 

Coriander seeds -10/12

Salt - per taste

Turmeric 1/3 spoon 

Garam masala powder - 1/2 teaspoon 

Coriander leaves for garnishing.

In a heavy wok, add Ghee and keep the flame to medium. Once hot add all the aromatics ( spices) , sauté for 30 seconds. Add ginger garlic paste sauté for further 30 seconds.

Now add onion and green chillies (if using) and sauté on low heat for a minute. Now add all the vegetables, turn heat to high, sauté for another minute add tomato purée, salt, turmeric and mix well for a minute or so. Now add rice , turn off the heat, mix well for a minute.

Add Garam masala , transfer into a microwave bowl add water and microwave on high for 20 mins. In case you are not using microwave you can use pressure cooker or rice cooker . In pressure cooker cook for 2 whistles and in rice cooker per the instruction. 

Vegetable Pulao ready to be served in 30 minutes.

Fish curry in mustard gravy

I love fish, unfortunately husband doesn't even touch them so I don't get to prepare it that often, since husband was away for the weekend so decided to cook a big batch to last all weekend ( told you I love fish)

For this preparation you need fresh water fish,  in bihar we mostly use fresh water fish (there are no sea side near by but plenty of ponds and ofcorse the mighty river Ganges) so it's either Rohu / Katla -from Carp family . 

So for this fish curry in mustard gravy you  need.

Fish -1 kg , cut horizontally 

Mustard oil - 1/2 cup

Yellow mustard seeds - 2 table spoon

Garlic - 10 pods 

Red chillies -4 /5

Tomato- 1 large, chopped finely

Salt

Turmeric powder

Grind  mustard seeds , garlic and chillies into fine paste.

Clean fish, add little turmeric , salt and half teaspoon of this masala and mix well , covering each piece.

Heat mustard oil to smoking point, turn down to medium and fry each piece 2-3 minutes each side , keep adjusting the oil temperature to ensure all the pieces are golden and not over / under cooked .

Keep the fried fish aside on a kitchen towel to drain all excess oil.

Now add all the remaining masala to mustard oil and cook it on very low heat for 10-15 mins , you don't have to stir continuously but ensure that it doesn't stick

When masala is almost done add chopped up tomato pieces and cook for further 5 mins , till oil starts coming out from masala.

Add water, increase temperature and bring to boil.

Turn heat back to medium and leave it cooking for 5 mins.

Now gently add the fried fish pieces and cook for further 3-4 minutes .

Turn off the heat, your fish in mustard curry is ready. Serve it with plain boiled rice. 

Also, a good idea to prepare this dish some time in advance (30 mins to an hour) so it gets time to rest and fish can absorb all the masalas.

Mum tells me when they would cook this in winter, the leftovers were covered in a wok and left overnight to get the 'winter chill', it would taste all the more better ! 

Easy weekday dinner - Baked Broccoli

It was just one of those days, back to back calls, meetings emails and skipped lunch , by the time I reached home I swear I could have eaten anything , but there was nothing remotely interesting in fridge.

I wanted to make something fast, easy and filling . now I am not a fan of broccoli but everything tastes good with cheese so I thought of making baked broccoli.

Here is my version

Slice up one large potato real thin - I didn't even bother to peel, just washed nicely.

Layer it in the baking pan , grill it on high setting in microwave for a min (I have LG convection microwave which has plenty of features like grill, bake, auto cook etc).

Next, thinly slice cloves. chop broccoli in small florets, arrange this on top of potatoes, sprinkle salt and pepper, grate cheese ( lots of !) on top of this mix and for something crunchy I just crushed some cereals ( breakfast corn flakes on top)

Back in the microwave ( you can use normal oven 200 degree centigrade for 20 mins) on 'auto cook gratin' setting.

15 mins later, with a glass of red wine, I had the perfect dinner with me .

Now bring on the Wednesday :)

From mum's kitchen 'Godla'

The ultimate comfort food from mum's kitchen -not sure if there is any fancy name for this but in Bihar it's called 'Godla'

So this is what you need:

Kala chana (Black gram) - 1 cup

Potato -1 medium size

Onion - 2 medium 

Ginger -1/2"

Garlic -4/5 pods

Cumin powder -1 tea spoon

Coriander powder - 1 tea spoon

Turmeric powder -1/3 teaspoon

Garam masala powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Bay leaves -2 /3

Badi elachi  (Black cardamom )- 1 

Red chillies -2/3 depending on taste ( I also remove the seeds to reduce heat and still get that slightly smokey flavour)

Ghee (Clarified butter or any other cooking oil) - 1 generous tablespoon 

Salt - to taste

Prep :

Soak kala chana for at least 4-5 hours

Grind it into a coarse paste - try not to make a too fine paste, this is a rustic dish, all the different texture of chana adds to the flavour

Chop up 1  1/2 onion finely

Use remaining half onion, ginger and garlic and make a rough paste.

Now heat ghee in a pressure cooker, add bay leaves, black cardamom and red chilli, sauté for half a minute 

Add the onion, garlic and ginger mix , sauté for further 2 mins , add the chopped onion , turn down the heat to low and let the onion sweat completely , mixing this masala every couple of minutes.

After about 8-10 mins when the onion becomes all soggy , add cumin, coriander and turmeric powder , keep the heat low and sauté for further five mins.

Into this mix add the kala chana mix, sauté for again 10- 15 mins, you don't have to mix constantly just every couple of mins, ensure the heat is at the lowest level so it doesn't burn or sticks.

Cut potato into 4/6 piece add it into the pressure cooker , mix well.

Add salt, garam masala powder and 3-4 cups of water.

Cover and cook on medium heat for 3-4 whistle.

Serve with hot plain rice, plain onion and a dollop of ghee...pure bliss

Lunch in a bowl - Chicken noodles

Given that I work from home most days of the week, I usually want to have something light for lunch, easy to prepare and eat between meetings and emails. So I thought I will start a series with 'lunch in a bowl' , will try to keep it quick and nourishing.

First up : Chicken noodles 

This is how I went

Boiled noodles in salted water, till al dente (2-3 mins before the  require time)

Drain, rinse under tap water - so that it stops cooking, set aside.

Thinly slice 1/2" of ginger, 1 clove of garlic.

Slice up all the vegetable you have in fridge sufficient for one portion. I had onion , yellow pepper, cauliflower. You can add mushroom, capsicum, cabbage, carrot , whatever is there .

In a wok heat one table spoon of cooking oil , once hot add the sliced up vegetables , ginger and garlic and stir on high for couple if minutes.

In a bowl mix half a teaspoon each of  soya  sauce, chilli sauce, tomato sauce,  1 teaspoon each of vinegar and spring roll sauce (current favourite love the mix of chilli and something sweet), few drops of Tabasco sauce - for extra kick and 1 tablespoon water

Add this mix to the wok, turn down the heat to medium .

To this mix add bite size pieces if boneless chicken(or any other leftover meat you prefer)

Cook for couple of minutes. On medium heat till chicken is almost done. Adjust water as required.

Now add the noodles , sauté around of couple of minutes so noodles is completely covered in sauce .

Turn up the heat, break an egg into a bowl, beat up nicely and add this mix to wok.

Quickly mix it in wok so it covers all the noodles completely, stir for half a minute, check for salt and adjust per taste.

Turn of the heat, garnish with some onion leaves and serve yourself. Your quick and easy lunch done in under 15 mins.

Arbi masala

I did a bit of experiment in the kitchen and since it turned out good , thought I would share with you all. 

This is what you need : 

 Arbi / Colocassia  (medium size) : 250 gm

Green tomato : 2 medium - sliced thinly

Ajwain( carom seed) : 1/3 of tea spoon

Onion : 1 medium - sliced thinly

Amchur powder / chat masala - 1 tea spoon 

Red chilli whole (deseeded ) : 2-3 small

Garlic 2-3 cloves - finely slice

Oil: 1 tbs ( mustard or any cooking oil)

Salt 

Turmeric powder 

Now boil the arbi in pressure cooker for one whistle, remove from heat, drain and leave aside to cool.

Finely slice onion, tomatoes , garlic . Make a incision in chilli and  remove seeds ( it gives a nice someky flavour without the heat) 

Once arbi is cooled enough to handle, peel the skin ( be careful at this stage some variety really itches, in that case rub oil and lemon juice on hands before handling arbi)

Slice up boiled arbi in 4/6 pieces length wise.

Now heat oil in wok, once it smokes turn down the heat to low  for a minute, add ajwain seeds, garlic , red chilli and fry for 30 seconds. 

Turn the heat to medium

Add onion and fry for 2-3 minutes till it turns brown.

Add sliced tomatoes, turmeric powder , fry for minute , cover and cook on low heat for 3-4 minutes.

Add arbi and mix well so masala covers completely .

Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes on low heat till arbi is almost done

Add chat masala / amchur powder and salt and cook for 2-3 minutes till arbi is done.

Serve hot with roti / paratha