Click.... Whole Spices

Finally.... I made it in time for this event. Here is my entry for CLICK... Au Naturel

Whole spices in their natural form...



Camera use: NIKON D60
Lens : VR 18-55mm

I am back for RCI- Maharashtra cuisine- Ragda Patties

Hello,
I am finally back to blogging after a long long break.. Thank you everyone who have been visiting my blog. I will start posting recipes for all the pictures that have been sitting in my camera and computer forever.....


When I saw Nupur from One Hot Stove announced the RCI for this month I knew that this was the best way to come back to blogging. So when I decided that I called my friend Meena for a potluck with Maharashtrian dishes that we wanted to post on our respective blogs. Everyone loved the recipes. She made Kothimbir vadi and you can get that recipe on her blog and I made Ragda Patties.



And coming to the recipe... Ragda Patties as I understand is a very well known dish from the state of Maharashtra ( or so I would liketo think!!!). Maharashtrian cuisine has a lot of similarities with Andhra cuisine I feel- in the method of cooking, the simplicity of the ingredients and method, etc...or probably I feel it has a lot of similarities just because I like it!!This was the recipe I wanted to try from the time I ate it at my cousin S's house. The taste still lingers in my mouth and the sad part is that I couldn't get the recipe from her before she left Portland so I searched the Internet for some recipes. I found quite a few and this a concoction of all the recipes with a few variations (probably not very traditional) -My take on Ragda Patties-







INGREDIENTS- All the measures are approximate- Adjust them according to your taste


For the Patties:


Outer Filling:

3-4 Large Potatoes
2 tbsp cornflour
Salt to taste
1/2 cup of chopped mint leaves
1 tsp of Chilli powder

Inner Filling:

1 medium potato
1 cup fresh/frozen peas
1/2 large onion or 1 medium onion
1-2 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2" piece grated/finely chopped ginger
salt to taste

Oil for shallow frying the patties

For the Ragda:

Ragda Tempering:

1/2 tsp of mustard seeds
4-6 curry leaves
1 pinch of asafoetida
2 tbsp of oil

Ragda:

2 cups dried yellow peas
1 large boiled potato- mashed
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 -1 tsp chilli powder

3 tsp green chilli- ginger paste (just grind them together)

1/2 - 1 tsp garam masala
2 tsp - sugar/ jaggery (optional)
1 medium lemon size tamarind soaked and juice extracted
salt to taste


Ingredients for Green Chutney:

2 cups mint leaves
1/2 a large onion or 1 medium onion chopped
1 cup cilantro
juice of 1 lime
1 tsp sugar (optional)
4 green chillies (adjust according to how spicy the chillies are)
salt to taste


Imli Khajur ka chutney (Tamarind- date chutney)- Store bought


Sev


1 medium onion chopped
some Cilantro leaves for garnish

METHOD:


For Green Chutney:

Grind all the ingredients for Green Chutney in a blender to a fine paste.



For Ragda:

Soak the dried peas overnight

Boil them with 4-6 cups of water till peas are soft (You can use a pressure cooker for this).

Heat the 2 tbsp oil for tempering and add the mustard leaves. Fry for a minute and then add the curry leaves just torn with your hand to release the juices. After the mustard seeds crackle add the asafoetida.

Add in all the ingredients for the ragda. Add more water as required as the gravy starts to thicken,

Simmer for about 12 mins.


For the Patties:

Boil and mash the potatoes for the outer filling.

Add all the ingredients for the outer filling and mix well to a soft dough.

For the Inner Filling, take 2 tbsp of oil in pan and fry the onions till translucent.

Add the all the ingredients except the potato and peas and saute for a couple of minutes.

Then add in the mashed potato and peas and saute for about 3-5 mins.

Now take the outer filling pat into a circle about 3" in diameter. Place some inner filling mixture in the center and carefully close the ends sealing the filling inside.

Flatten the patty a little so it looks more like a burger.

Shallow fry the patties in oil a few at a time until they are crisp and brown on the outside and drain them on paper towels and keep them aside


To Serve:


Take a patty or two (depending on how you like it) in a cup (easier to eat than in a plate I feel), pour ragda over it. Garnish it with the chutneys, chopped onions and cilantro and enjoy... This tastes good when it is served nice and hot, just like it served on the roadside food carts in India... mmmm yummmm



Phew.... That was a really long post and hope you all like it!!!. Thanks for reading the post.

I will be back in a shortwhile

Sorry for not blogging for so long. I've been really busy with a lot of things happening in life and couldn't get to publishing a blog. I will be back soon. I have a few recipes and photos waiting to be published. Please visit again for some new recipes I've tried recently.

Superbowl...

We had a party at our friends L & R, as is our tradition for Super bowl. The Super bowl party signifies the end of the Football season (oh thank god) and the start for more parties to come.... R always grills tandoori chicken and paneer tikkas for all of us and they are the best.

So coming to the point, this year I made Paneer Chili rolls for the Superbowl. I got this recipe from Tarladalal.com ( she calls them Paneer Chili cigars) when I was searching for an easy recipe and something which can be made with spring roll wrappers as I had those sitting in the refrigerator. The original recipe called for some spring onions and some other ingredients I didn't have and I was too lazy to go to the grocery store for a couple of ingredients hence I did what I always do.... improvised with what I have. Here is my version of the Paneer Chili rolls:

Ingredients

1 medium onion chopped
2- 2 1/2 cups of paneer cubed small
2 tbsp and more to taste of Maggi Chili garlic sauce
1 green bell pepper cubed small ( the size of the paneer)
2 tsp oil
salt to taste
and 1 pack spring roll wrappers (mine had 21 wrappers and I think its a 16 oz size)
1 tbsp all purpose flour (maida) mixed in 1 tbsp water- glue
Oil for frying

Method

Heat the 2 tsp oil in the pan and saute the onions.
Add the green bell peppers and let cook for a couple of minutes till the peppers are softened.
Add the paneer, chili-garlic sauce and salt. Mix well.
Cook for a couple of minutes and keep aside.

Heat the frying oil in a pan.
Take the spring roll wrapper and lay it so its in a diamond shape.
Spoon a heaping tbsp of mixture about an inch from the lower corner. Take the lower part and tuck it around the mixture and roll once and then fold the left and the right sides in and continue rolling. Apply the flour glue to the end and close it. Lay them seam side down till you are ready to fry them. I was making the rolls as I go as I didn't want them to dry. Fry the spring rolls about 4-5 at time until nice golden brown in color. Make sure not to crowd the pan. Drain them on paper towels and serve.

I had a little filling left and we made them into sandwiches the next day. They tasted really good.

Nutrition with Soy

I've been meaning to post this recipe for a long long time. It took a while for me to load the pics on to the computer and post the blog.

I am not a big fan of Soy products other than tofu. I eat/drink them only if a gun is put to my head. Being ovo-lacto vegetarian, I try to add different sources of protein (and as I already mentioned soy chunks or soy milk is not one of them). I was searching the web for some recipes and happened to come across this on tarladalal.com. The recipe looked very simple and I decided to try it. I was impressed with the taste but I think I might try the recipe with paneer ir tofu instead of Soy chunks.

Here is the recipe:

Soya Mutter ki Subzi/ Soya nuggets and peas curry

Serves :2

1/2 cup soya nuggets/soya chunks

1/2 cup green peas

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds (jeera)

a pinch of asafoetida (hing)

1 tsp ginger-green chili paste (I used a little more that a tsp)

1/2 tsp garlic paste

2 medium onions - chopped

2 tomatoes- chopped

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder (dhaniya powder)

1/4 cup Yogurt

1/4 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)

1 tsps chick-pea flour (besan)

2 tbsp milk

2 tbsp Oil

Salt to taste

Method:

Cook the soya nuggets in hot salted water for about 20 mins and keep aside

Heat the oil and add cumin seeds. When they splutter, add asafoetida, giner-green chilli paste, garlic paste and onions and saute till the onions are trasclucent.

Add the tomatoes, turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder and cook on medium flame for about 5-10 minutes.

Mix the curds , gram flour and milk and 3/4 cup of water and add to the onion-tomato gravy.

Add the soya nuggetssugar and salt and simmer for 3-4 minutes.

Add the peas and simmer for couple more minutes.

Serve hot with roti, puri, rice

I served this with Peas Pulao... and it was a hit with my hubby..

Tomato Chutney and Mint chutney

I've been really busy the past 2 weeks and have not been able to post any recipes. I have a lot of pictures ready.... and I will try to post the recipes soon.
Meanwhile, my best friend, Madhuri asked me for 2 recipes: Tomato Chutney and Mint chutney. Here are the recipes for you Madhuri..

Tomato Chutney
She said she wanted an easy Tomato chutney - well this recipe has very few ingredients and the recipe is easy to follow but the preparation time is a little longer than most chutney recipes.

Ingredients:

Tomatoes- 4-5 big Beef Steak tomatoes- cut into about 1" cubes
Red Chili Powder - to taste
Salt- To taste
Garlic - 2-3 cloves (optional)- chopped
Mustard Powder ( Recipe below)
Oil- couple of tbsp
Mustard powder:
Dry roast and powder the following ingredients:
Mustard seeds- 1 tbsp
Methi dana (Fenugreek seeds)- 1 tsp
1 Dry Red Chili

For tadka (tempering):
Mustard seeds - a pinch
Cumin seeds- a pinch

Method:
Heat oil in a Kadai. Add the mustard seeds and cumin and wait till the turn brown.
Add the tomatoes (and garlic).
Let the tomatoes cook on medium-high heat till little water is left in the mixture. This stepp might take a while depending on the water content in the tomatoes. Keep stirring occasionally to make sure the mixture doesn't stick to the pan.
Add the mustard powder, chilipowder and salt. Mix and turn of the heat.

This can be served with hot rice. We like it on the sandwich... we eat it with pretty much anything..

This chutney can be stored in the refrigerator for about a week.

Mint Chutney:

My version of the mint chutney. The proportions are just approximate.

Mint: 1 bunch - leaves seperated
Cilantro : 1 bunch ( equal to the amount of mint)
Green chillies - 2-3 depending on how spicy you like it and how spicy the chillis are
Lime juice - to taste
salt- to taste
yogurt- 2 tbsp (optional- I like the taste of this but its compltetly optional)
grated Coconut- 1 tbsp

Method:
Grind all the ingredients (except lime juice) to a smooth consistency. Add little water if needed. Add lime juice and mix.

First Blog

Hello Everyone,

This is my first blog and I decided to start blogging with a rice dish I made yesterday.

This is a recipe I got from my cousin Sobha and couldn't resist making it yesterday when one of our friend's called us for a potluck at her place.

This recipe caught my attention because it uses vegetables that I never would have used in any kind of Pulao/Biryani/Bath- Tindora and Eggplant. I made a few modifications to the recipe (well.. I should say it is difficult for me to make a recipe without any changes..) and it turned out great. Everyone enjoyed it and I got a few requests for the recipe.

Masala bath

1 1/2 cups Basmati rice - soaked for 1/2 hr
8 small eggplants (Indian eggplants)- slit into quarters and soaked in salt water
Tindora/Gherkin - slit into quarters- 3/4 frozen packet ( I used more because I like Tindora a lot)
Coriander Leaves- chopped finely for garnish
Bay Leaves- 2
Cloves - 5-6
Green Cardamom - 3-4
Black Cardamom -1 ( I did not have this at home hence didn't use it)
Onion - 1 big - thinly sliced (optional- My husband and I love onions and hence I added some)
Ghee- 1 tbsp
Oil- 2 -3 tbsp
Turmeric powder- 2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Water- about 3 cups
Cashews - Roasted in ghee- for garnish

To be dry roasted, cooled and grind to a paste with a little water:

2 tbsp coriander seeds (I just eye-balled it)
1 tbsp Cumin seeds (I just eye-balled it)
1/4 cup Fresh scrapped coconut (I just used fresh frozen sliced coconut pieces)
Whole red chillies -3-4 (Depending on how spicy you want it you can add more)

Method

Heat the oil and ghee is a pan.
Add the bay leaves, cloves and cardamoms and saute for a min.
Add the onions if you are using them and saute till they are light brown. (Skip this step if you are not using onion)
Add the masala paste and saute for a couple of minutes.
Add the drained Gherkins and eggplant pieces.
Add salt and turmeric powder and stir.
Cook for 5-8 minutes.
Drain water from Rice and add to pan. Saute for a couple of minutes. Add the water and let it cook for about 25 minutes. Check to see if the rice is done.
Garnish with coriander and cashews and serve hot with yogurt raita.

My Version:
After I added the rice and sauteed for a couple of minutes I was lazy and just dumped everything in the rice cooker. The only thing with the rice cooker is - you will have to add a little less water than it is usually required ( I added a little lesser than 3 cups). You can also skip cooking the vegetables for 5-8 minutes when you add it to the rice cooker- they get cooked well in the rice cooker.