Cabbage and Capsicum Kachumber

Yesterday dinner was courtesy the famous chef, Late Tarla Dalal , I was looking for something simple yet different from the normal way of cooking cabbage and i came across this recipe of Cabbage & Capsicum Kachumber . It looked simple enough so i tried.

I modified my version a little by removing Hing (asafoetida) from the recipe , honestly i have never really cooked with hing and not too keen on its taste.


Here is my variation

1 cabbage medium size - shredded
1 green bell pepper medium size  - cut into thin strips
1 fresh red chilli (you can replace with normal green chilli - i wanted to add some color) - chopped finely
1 teaspoon cooking oil
1/2 teaspoon - black mustard seed (rai)
1/2 tea spoon coriander powder
1 generous table spoon lemon / lime juice
1/3 teaspoon turmeric
Salt to taste


Heat oil in a wok, once hot add mustard seeds , so it splutters for 10 seconds

Add red chillies  bell pepper

Saute for half minute on high heat

Add shredded cabbage , mix everything and saute for 1 minute

Turn heat to medium , add turmeric powder, coriander powder, mix well

Cover and cook on low heat for 5 minutes

Turn back heat to medium, add lemon juice and salt , mix well

Cook for couple of minutes , turn off heat , serve immediately

Aloo chokha (Mashed Potatoes - Bihar style)

Saturday in most of the bihari household means Kichdi (a simple rice and lentil preparation) for lunch, its easy to cook and healthy too. Also since i spend most of saturday morning in cleaning , laundry etc , preparing khichdi means i am relieved of all the prepping and cooking for a elaborate meals & can quickly finish off all the weekend work. Elaborate meals/ family get togethers  usually  starts from saturday evening :)

Along with Kichdi there are few staples which get served , as my grand mother used to say "kichdi ke paanch  yaar chokha dahi  papad, ghee ,  achar  " translation - Khicdi to be served with five friends, chokha (mashed potatoes), dahi (curd), papad , ghee (clarified butter) and achar (pickle)


While there are few variation, this is the simplest version for everyday cooking

You need

Boiled potatoes - mashed
Onion - chopped
Green chillies - chopped
Mustard oil - important to use mustard oil as it gives slightly pungent flavur and can be eaten uncooked
Salt - to taste


Boil potatoes and let it be cool enough to handle - not too cold else it would be difficult to mash.

Mash potatoes , add chopped onions, chillies , a spoonful of mustard oil and salt.

Mix well and serve.

Excellent with Khicdi & Litti (recipe coming up soon)

Dahi ke kebab

Not sure if i have mentioned this before but Husband is super picky eater - no milk or milk related products, no fish , no red meat the list is really endless , so on most of the days i have a very limited choice to cook for.

But now that husband is traveling and my parents are here, we are getting to experiment a bit in the kitchen. So for today i tried 'Dahi ke kebab', i had this first with mum in the restaurant "Sahib Singh Sultan" a while back. I searched the net for recipe and there are quiet a variation there, so after reading through all the recipes and trying from my experience i followed the following recipe.

You need

Curd - 1 cup
Besan - 1 full teaspoon
Sattu (roasted bengal gram powder)  - 1 full teaspoon
Red chilli powder - 1/3 teaspoon; less or more depending on taste
Turmeric powder - 1/3 teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Garam masala powder - 1/2 tea spoon
Zattar powder - 1/2 tea spoon (optional)
Oil for frying (1 full table spoon)



Tie curd in a plain cotton cloth / cheese cloth and hang it so all the water drains out (hung curd)

In this mix add all other ingredients except oil.

Heat a not stick pan , add oil

Once hot, form the curd mix into a small patty like shape and fry on pan till each side turns crisp.

Serve hot with your favorite chutney or sauce.

Moong Dal Tadka Soup

Dal (Lentil) is a staple of Indian cooking, whether its roti dal, chawal dal or sambhar chawal, it's the most common dish across the nation.


I had this version of moong dal tadka on a  cold winter evening at a Delhi wedding and ever since i have been making it quiet often. Like all other lentil, moong dal is very high on protein  and dietary fiber, however unlike others moong dal is very light to stomach and easy digest  hence is perfect side dish or soup.


You need :

Split yellow moong dal beans (dry) - 1/2 cup
Ghee (Clarified butter) - 1 generous teaspoon
Onion - medium chopped roughly
Tomato - medium chopped roughly
Ginger - 1/2'' inch, chopped roughly
Green chilli - 1 slit length wise
Tumeric - 1/3 teaspoon
Salt  to taste
Coriander leaves to garnish

Pressure cook moong dal with water, turmeric and salt on medium to low heat for 6-7 whistles . You can also cook the same using slow cooker for 4-5 hours with sufficient water.


Once cooked remove from heat, if you want to serve this as a soup use a hand blender to mix and get soup like consistency.

Heat a wok on medium heat, add ghee , add ginger, green chilli, onion and saute for 30 seconds .

Add chopped tomatoes and saute for another minute, keep the heat medium to low all the time.

Tip over the moong daal soup carefully (watch out for splutter)

Let it cook for a minute , turn off the heat , garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot !

Baigan Bharta (spicy egg plant mashed)

Winter is just around the corner, though not in Bangalore - its just been raining incessantly :( , still the good part about winter is the abundance of fresh vegetables and i especially love the peas , the sweet and soft variety which i end up eating raw while trying to shell for vegetables :)

One of the winter staple for me is baigan ka bharta (mashed eggplant) again a simple dish and quick to make.

You need

Eggplant (Baigan) - 1 large
Green Peas -  1/2 cup (fresh or frozen)
Onion - 1 large chopped finely
Tomato - 1 large chopped finely
Ginger - 1' finely chopped
Green chillies - 1 finely chopped
Cumin seeds - 1/2  tea spoon
Cumin powder - 1/2 tea spoon
Turmeric - 1/3 tea spoon
Salt - to taste
Cooking oil - 1 teaspoon
Coriander leaves to garnish


To cook.

Clean eggplant throughly and slit eggplant length, ensuring the base remain intact.

Roast it on open flame on stove or in the oven till its cooked thoroughly (put a skewer, there should not be any resistance)

Once roasted and slightly cooled, peel the cover and mash.

Now in a hot wok (on medium flame on a stove) add oil, add cumin till it splutters.

Add ginger, green chillies, saute for half a minute

Add  onion and fry for couple of minutes , till it turns little golden

Now add remaining tomatoes , saute for a minute

turn heat to low, add cumin powder, turmeric , salt and cook for 4-5 minutes

Now add peas , mashed egg plant

Again on low heat cook for 5-6 mins, remove from heat.

Garnish with coriander and serve hot

Achari Bhindi

Bhindi (lady finger) always evoke strong reaction from most of the household, people either love it or like my sister can't stand the 'slimy nature' of this simple vegetable. 

However due to its high fibre content it's highly recommended for good health so I try and incorporate at least once every week . I mostly cook it like a dry vegetable in bit of mustard oil but once in a while make achari bhindi, slightly spicy and perfect with plain parathas .  it's  also a great and easy way to use the leftover masala bit from your regular achar.

This is what you need :

Serves 2 

Okra / lady finger / Bhindi (250 -300 gms ) - sliced into 1 inch long pieces

Onion -1 large - sliced very thinly

Mustard oil / any cooking oil - 1 1/2 table spoon

Achar masala -1 table spoon 

Turmeric powder -1/3 teaspoon 

Salt - to taste 

In a wok / heavy pan heat one table spoon of oil on medium flame.

Add sliced Lady fingers and sauté for a couple of minutes( be gentle while sautéing else it would break ).

Turn heat to low and cover and cook till about

80% done.

Remove from wok, keep aside.

In the same wok add remaining half table spoon oil add sliced onion.

On medium heat cook onion for 2-3 minutes till it becomes transparent  and little soggy.

Add achar masala, salt and turmeric and mix well and continue to cook for a minute or so.

Now add back cooked bhindi and gently mix all well.

Turn heat to low and cook till bhindi is completely done.

Serve hot with parathas, also great as a side dish with Rice.

Baigan fry

It was Teej yesterday, very important festival for all Bihari married ladies , it's a day we keep fast and pray to lord shiva parvati for long and happy life of our husbands and families.

Our fasting starts from the morning of Teej ( we are to get up before sunrise and eat something as 'sargahi') and continues till next morning , when we do the puja rituals and breaks the fast with prasad.

The typical breakfast this day is an elaborate meal to compensate for all the fasting of previous day. We have Rice,Godla ( recipe here), chakka , baigan fry etc. it's a huge meal and so sleep inducing. It's a great thing that we are in Bangalore now cause the day after Teej is Ganesh Chaturthi, that means holiday and that means post breakfast siesta is totally doable :) 

So for today I will share the recipe of this very simple baigan (egg plant) fry that I made.

You need :

Small size egg plants , slit into 4 , stalk intact -6/7

Chat masala powder / amchur powder - 1 table spoon 

Nigella seeds (mangrail / kalonji) -1 teaspoon

Mustard oil -1 table spoon to marinate and extra for frying 

Turmeric -1/3 teaspoon 

Red chilli powder -1/2 teaspoon ( as per taste) 

Salt - to taste 

In a utensil prepare marinade by mixing together mustard oil , chaat powder, kalonji, red chilli powder , turmeric powder and salt.

Next coat each egg plant with this marinade, ensure the inside cut portion is covered completely.

Let it marinate for half and hour (in case you want to marinate for more than half hour, add salt half and hour before cooking, else it would become too soggy) 

Now heat a wok - I normally use my cast iron wok for this. Add a generous amount of mustard oil , let it reach smoking point. Turn heat to medium and add egg plants , keep the oil hot and turn over each egg plant till the skin becomes crispy. 

Turn down heat to low and cover and cook till it is cooked completely. Turn back heat to high for a min, rotate egg plant all over, the skin should be crispy and golden.

Garnish with chopped coriander , serve hot.

Potato leek soup hack

There are times when you crave for a taste but don't have time or patience to prepare the elaborate way.

This is a hack for my all time fav soup , potato leek soup , most of the time I have it on its own with a slice of garlic bread on side. 

For this you need ( one portion) 

One large potato 

Leek : finely chopped (2/3 cup)

Onion : finely chopped (1/3 cup)

Cheese (per choice ) - grated (1/4 cup)

Salt and pepper to taste.

Cook potato in microwave high setting for 2-3 mins .

In a pan sweat out chopped onion for couple of mins. Add leeks , salt and pepper and cook for 2-3 mins on low heat, turn off heat and remove from pan

Slice potato length wise, (it should be cooked 20-30%)

Scoop out the middle portion from potato (not completely ) 

Fill the scooped out portion with leek onion mix , add grated cheese on top.

Put in oven (200 degree centigrade )  for 15-20 mins till turns golden and crispy .

Also is an excellent side with roasted chicken 

(Served here with garlic roasted chicken , grated carrot )

Cabbage moong dal

Feeling a little inspired from my earlier two experiments in the kitchen, today morning I tried my third , fortunately this one also turned out good :)

I had heard about a similar dish from a friend and I thought I will try to create on my own ( without trying on dear darling google for an authentic recipe ) 

So for my version of moong dal with cabbage, you need :

Split moong dal : 1/2 cup

Cabbage : half head

Onion :  1 small

Curry leaves : 8-10

Ginger : grated or chopped -1/3 tea spoon 

Black mustard seeds : 1/2 teaspoon

Salt : to taste

Turmeric powder : 1/4 teaspoon 

Oil: 1 teaspoon 

Soak moong dal overnight (10-12 hrs) , drain and leave it in sieve so there is no water left.

Finely shred cabbage head

Finely chop onion

Heat oil in a wok on medium heat

When it's hot , add mustard seeds, curry leaves , ginger.  sauté for 30 seconds 

Add shredded cabbage , sauté for a minute now  turn down the heat to low.

Add moong dal , turmeric, sauté for further one minute .

Cover the wok and let it cook for 10 mins on lowest heat level, mix it once in a while so it does not stick, avoid adding water.

After 10 mins , everything should be cooked , but still a bit crunchy. Add salt now and remove cover and cook for a minute (Adding salt at the end ensures that cabbage retains its texture and doesn't become soggy)

Serve as a side dish , or as breakfast dish.

Since I had a bit of onion growing in the pot I used its leaves for garnishing ( completely optional ) 

Bharwa karela (Stuffed bitter gourd)

While there are various version of stuffed bitter gourd,  i usually end up making this version cuase its light and takes less time to cook.

So here is the recipe

For stuffing

Onion - 1 medium finely chopped
Ginger - 1/2 inch , chopped/ grated / paste
Tomato - 2 small size, finely chopped
Chaat masala / Amchoor powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt - per taste
Chilli powder - per taste
Turmeric - 1/2 teaspoon
Garam masala powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Cooking oil


To prep the karela, clean them thoroughly and make a slit length wise to open it up , scoop out the inside pulp & seed and keep aside for stuffing (discard if its mostly seed)

Rub some salt all over and inside these karelas and leave aside till you prep the stuffing - rubbing of salt takes out the bitterness and makes them slightly tender. Don't leave for more than 30 minutes else it be too soggy.

Now to the stuffing

Heat oil, add onion , saute for couple of minutes till it becomes slightly golden. Add the inside pulp from karela if using.
Add Tomatoes , further saute for couple of minutes.
Add chilli powder, turmeric, chaat masala and cover and cook for 3-4 minutes .
Since there is no water added be careful about the masala sticking to the pan or better still use a non stick pan.
Once all masala mixes well, add salt and remove from heat

Now clean karelas  carefully so all the salt is removed. Stuff this mix in the karela. If you are feeling a little 'gourmet' you can use a cotton thread to truss it else stuff tightly and roll over so the mixture does not spill.

Pour  a little bit oil on top and sprinkle garam masala. You can now cook this stuffed karela over stove in the pan or like me bake it oven for 30 mins. If using microwave use the convection setting 15 mins.

Best served as side dish for roti / naan/ paratha