Litti choka

Today's dish is probably the best known dish from bihar. Litti choka, simple and earthy dish which was quiet a staple in winter months earlier but now has become sort of novelty.It's a simple dish with very few ingredients and super healthy too.

Ingredients 

For litti 

Wheat flour - make it into dough by kneading it with slightly warm water.

Sattu - similar to besan but its made by grinding dry roasted  gram (de husked)instead of raw gram as done for besan. Sattu is now commonly available across country in most departmental store and super markets . And yes for this dish sattu cannot be replaced with besan.

Lemon juice  

Onion - finely chopped

Garlic cloves - finely chopped  

Green chillies - finely chopped 

Salt to taste 

For baign ka choka 

1 round eggplant , roast it on open flame. Once cool enough peel the roasted outer layer.  mash the roasted eggplants.

Mustard oil -1 teaspoon

Onion -1 small finely chopped
garlic - 2/3 cloves finely chopped

Green chilli - 1 or more depending on hotness preference , finely chopped
Salt to taste

Mix together everything and baigan ka chokha is ready.

I have already posted the recipe for aloo choka here 

For making litti.

For filling , mix together sattu with onion, chilli, garlic, lemon juice, salt and just enough water so the mix is crumbly.

From the dough, make small balls and roll out into small circular shape (size of a puri) . Now take a tablespoon of filling and place it on rolled out dough. Bring together the edge and shape it into flat ball.

While the typical version is baked, for today i made the poached version.

For this, in a kadhai fill water till 2/3 add salt and put it on heat . Once water come to boil , add these littis to water. let each side cook for 7-8 minutes.

Remove from water and serve with choka.

You can also fry some of these in little oil. Since they are poached before they absorb very less oil.

Puy lentil salad

I love to watch food shows. Sometimes even when its less about food and more about everything else (Hell's kitchen anyone ?? ), :) 

This salad recipe today is inspired from Rachel Khoo's show 'Little Paris Kitchen'. I say inspired because instead of cooking the lentil with Bay leaves and thyme i soaked the lentil overnight in plain water with bay leaves and thyme.

Here is the recipe for this easy , healthy and wonderfully tasty salad.

Soak Puy lentil overnight (6-8 hours) with Bay leaves and thyme in plain water , drain water , remove bay leaves and thyme.

1/2 Beetroot - sliced thinly
Goat / Feta cheese 
Sea salt to taste
Dill Vinaigrette
Olive oil

For Dill Vinaigrette

Fresh Dill - 2
Olive oil - 1 table spoon
Lemon juice- 1 teaspoon
red wine vinegar - 1 splash

Mix together in an electric blender to a smooth dressing like consistency.

For salad

Mix all ingredients for salad , serve immediately . Tasty and super healthy !

Party food - Olive Mix

Looking for last minute party food ideas ? Here is one goes fabulously from day to night and all sorts of wines and drinks and THE best part ..... no cooking involved. What else you want ?


You need

Olives - preferably pitted and better still have a mix of green and black.  : One big bowl

Extra virgin olive oil - 3 generous table spoons

Dill - chopped roughly - 2 teaspoon

Pomegranate seeds - 2/ 3 table spoons

Sea salt


Mix all the ingredients in a clean dry bowl and leave aside, you can have this right away or leave it in dry place for couple of days, either ways Perfect  !!

Moong dal pakoda (Lentil fritters)

For me Delhi is THE street food capital of the world , the variety, the taste, range of flavors,  simply amazing. Whether its chaat near the UPSC building or parathas from chandani chowk, every area in delhi has  a street food speciality and it changes with the season.
Moong dal pakoda is a favourite of mine , whenever i am in Lajapat nagar area. During winter months, It's served piping hot with grated radish and green chutney ...simply divine. If you are ever near lajpat nagar area (i know the traffic is killing , take metro), go around the corner from 'Ritu wears' there are few vendors who serve really the crunchiest and best moong dal padoka.

Since my plan of going to delhi this month got cancelled, i thought of treating myself by making these at home. Serve this with evening tea on a cold day and watch it disappear.

For Pakodas you need :

Split yellow moong dal , soaked for atleast 3-4 hours - one small bowl

Green chillies - depending on taste, i used one

Garlic cloves - 4

Salt to taste

and cooking oil for deep frying.

Drain out all excess water from the soaked moong dal.

In a blender add moong dal, chillies, peeled garlic cloves, and salt

Blend to a thick paste like consistency, be careful if you are adding water , the mixture should be thick enough to hold its shape in oil.

Now heat oil to smoking point , turn heat to medium, using small teaspoon drop bits of this paste in oil.

Let it cook till both sides turn golden and crunchy, should take 3-4 minutes.


Serve piping hot with grated radish & any green chutney you prefer

And if you feel guilty about fried food, console yourself like i do every time, its lentil, protein after all :p

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)

Carrot Soup

With the onset of winter my family's favorite afternoon / early evening 'snack' is soup. It's easy to prepare, tasty and healthy to boot.

So for this carrot soup you need :

Carrots - 5/6 

Tomato - 1 

Garlic -2 /3 cloves 

Potato - half medium or one small peeled 

Water - 1 glass 

Butter - 1 teaspoon

Salt & Pepper to taste

Put every thing together in a pressure cooker  (except butter , salt & pepper ) and cook for 3-4 whistles on medium heat. If using slow cooker , set it on with sufficient water till all the vegetable cooks throughly.  

Once the mixture cools a little, use a  blender and mix it to soup like consistency. Put the mixture back on heat , add butter , salt & pepper, serve hot with crackers 

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.

Kaikari Ishtew

After a rather heavy lunch yesterday, mom and me wanted to make something simple and flavorful for dinner so we finally zeroed on lemon rice and Kaikari Ishtew .

Kaikari ishtew is a coconut based dish usually had with appam. We tried it with rice and turned out equally good. I followed Sanjeev Kapoor recipe from Matering the art of Indian cooking  with slight tweaks (reduced the chilli & replaced coconut oil with sunflower oil)
You need :

Carrot - 1 medium cubed
Potato - 1 medium cubed
Cauliflower - 1 small cut in florets
Onion - 2 small chopped finely
Ginger, Garlic paste - 1.5 teaspoon
Cooking oil - 1 teaspoon
Bay leaves - 2
Cinnamon sticks - 2,  1" sticks
Cloves - 4
Star anise - 2
Curry leaves - 10/12 leaves
Green chillies - 2 whole (recipe called for 4 chillies stemmed and slit)
Coconut milk - 1 full cup
Salt to taste
Garam masala powder - 1/2 teaspoon




To prepare the Stew

In a wok add a glass of water and bring to boil.

When water comes to boil, add vegetables and let it cook for 2-3 minutes

Drain hot water and toss vegetables in cold water so it stops cooking.

In the wok add oil, once hot add bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise, chillies, curry leaves  and chopped onions.

Saute for a minute

add ginger garlic paste and stir , let the whole mix cook for couple of minutes on low heat

Drain water from vegetables and add it to the wok, add salt and coconut milk

Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes

Once vegetables cooks (make sure it doesn't overcook and becomes mushy)

Add garam masala powder , mix well. Turn off from heat, serve hot !

Red Capsicum & Olive dip

I had a lonely red capsicum lurking in fridge for a long while, thought of making a dip / chutney of sorts. So here is the recipe for a  simple and amazingly tasty dip. Have it with breads , chips , sliced vegetables , anything you like really ..its always awesome ! 

You need :

Red capsicum - 1  

Green Olives (pitted) - 6/7

Garlic - 2/3 cloves

Olive oil - 2 table spoon 

The process :

Clean red capsicum and lightly coat with olive oil and roast on stove / oven till the outer skin is charred 

Once the skin is lightly charred remove from heat , let it cool a little 

When cool enough to handle , slit in half , remove the seeds from inside and the charred outer skin.

You can also run it under tap water to remove both skin and seeds

Now Chuck all the ingredients in a mixer / blender , blend to a paste / chutney like consistency.

Try this and let me know how you like it.

(P.S. I didn't add any salt because olive was cured in brine so had enough salt, adjust salt according to your need) 

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

Lal Saag & Chana

So my mum was in Singapore in last four months with my sister, along with all the festivities she was also missing the season of all the different variety of 'Saag' available  in abundance in during this time in India especially in Bihar.While the most common variety of Saag - Spinach is available every where in the world. But varieties  like Laal Saag (Red amaranth) , Bathua etc are kind of limited to northern india.

 Now that she is back in India one of the first dish to cook was 'Lal Saag with kaala chana' 

You need 

A bunch of Lal Sag

Kaala chana (black gram) a handful -  soaked overnight 

Red chilli - 1 or 2 whole 

Ginger (1/2') - chopped finely 

Onion - 1 medium , finely chopped

Turmeric -1/3 teaspoon

Salt - to taste.

Cooking oil - 1 tea spoon 

To prepare.

Clean out the leaves (remove the hard stalks) and chop roughly.

Heat oil in pan, add red chilli ginger, onion. Saute on medium heat for couple of minutes.

Add chopped lal saag leaves and saute further for couple of minutes.

Turn heat to low, add turmeric , mix well , cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Keep checking the mixture in between, if it turns dry and start sticking add a little water.

Now add salt and soaked Kala chana, again saute for couple of minutes.

Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Serve with hot roti / parathas.

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.

Jeera Rice (Cumin Rice)

A simple variation on plain rice, perfect for the time when you want something fancier than plain rice and yet not take the complications of Biryani.

Although simple it's packs quiet a punch in terms of flavour. Bonus it also brings goodness of cumin. Cumin  is  featured  prominently in Mexican, Mediterranean, Indian, Middle Eastern, and certain Chinese cuisine. 
Cumin seeds contain a good amount of iron. Iron is an essential element for the formation of hemoglobin in the blood required for transport of oxygen.Cumin helps control stomach pain, indigestion, diarrhoea, nausea and morning sickness.For further detail read here http://completewellbeing.com/article/small-cumin-big-benefits

Now to the dish , 
you need :
Rice - important to use good quality basmati rice 
Clarified butter (Ghee)  / cooking oil - 1 table spoon 
Cumin - 1 teaspoon
Green chilli (optional)-1 sliced 
Salt - to taste 
Preparation : 
Soak rice in room temperature water for 10 mins, drain and leave aside.
 In a wok / heavy pan  add clarified butter and heat on medium flame. 
Once hot add cumin seeds let it splutter for few seconds . Be careful about the heat so that cumin turns golden and not dark.
Add green chilli ( if using) Now add drained rice, mix well for a minute add salt and turn off the heat.
Add water Transfer it into rice cooker / pressure cooker / microwave bowl to cook,  as you would normally cook rice. Rice can be cooked in pan / wok directly over medium heat in about 10- 15 mins, adjust water as required.I garnished with some finely chopped spring onions.Jeera Rice is excellent to serve with rich gravies , dal makhani etc , its simple and subtle flavour is excellent to compliment the richness of gravies.

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.

From Mum's kitchen - Tea time snack

This is another one of the Bihar staple tea time snack called 'kachri'.

You need:

Black gram- soaked overnight (at least 5-6 hours), ground into paste

Onion -1 medium , finely chopped

Ginger -1" finely chopped

Green chillies - per taste finely chopped

Salt -per taste

Coriander leaves - chopped up 

Oil to fry 

Mix everything and form into small patty like shapes. Shallow fry on a non stick tawa ( in pre calorie counting days, it would be deep fry ), crispy and crunchy  and perfect for tea time .

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.

Lunch in bowl - Spaghetti Aglio E Olio with mushroom and Garlic & some pasta gyaan

Today's lunch in a bowl was a super simple affair. It was modified from the version I shared earlier (here), still very very flavourful.

For this version you need : 

Spaghetti - boiled in salted water (al dente)

Garlic - 3/4 large pods , sliced thinly 

Dry red chilies -2/3 deseeded and sliced 

Button mushroom - half cup , cubed 

Olives -4/5 sliced thinly 

Basil leaves -3/4 large leaves 

Olive oil - 1 table spoon 

Heat oil in a wok , add red chillies & garlic , sauté for a min on medium heat till garlic turns slightly golden.

Add mushroom and olives , sauté for couple of mins.

Add boiled pasta, tear up basil leave , sauté for couple of mins , turn off heat.  Garnish with black pepper and basil leaf serve hot .. Super simple 

And now for some pasta sauce pairing I read recently.

Contoured pasta : Are great for trapping chucks of vegetable or meat.

Tubular , Short pasta : Are perfect for holding viscous sauces.

Long thin pasta : Are best with oil or cream based sauces . 

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 )