Dum Aloo Kashmiri

I have always been fascinated by this aloo dish. It has been my favorite for a long time, and I always have ordered it from various restaurants. But finally I decided to try it at home and as always it was simple. So here is the recipe for you. 

Perfect for veg Tuesdays & Thursdays.

Ingredients:

• Small potatoes ( 6 - 7)
• Mustard oil - 1/2 cup
• Veg oil - 2 cups
• Ginger powder - 1/2 tbsp or ginger paste
• Clove powder - 1/4 tbsp
• Curd - 1/2 cup
• Kashmiri mirch - 1 tbsp
• Green cardamom powder - 1/2 tbsp
• Fennel (sauf) powder - 1/2 tbsp
• Hing - just a pinch
• Cumin (zeera) powder (roasted) - 1/2 tbsp
• Garam masala powder - 1/2 tbsp
• Salt - to taste
• Chopped coriander
• 1 cup of water

Preparation:

• Boil the potatoes and then peel them. Leave them on a paper towel to dry
• Once dry, poke them with a fork or tooth pick to make small holes in the potatoes. This will allow the masala to get inside the potatoes when we cook the gravy
• Deep fry the potatoes in veg oil, till they are golden brown
• Leave them on a paper towl so that the excess oil is soaked
• Whisk the curd in a bowl till it becomes smooth
• Add the red chili powder, cardamom powder, ginger powder & fennel powder to the curd and mix well. (if you dont get ginger powder, its okay to use ginger paste, makes little difference)
• In a kadai pour the mustard oil and let it heat up. Let the mustard oil smoke. Bring down the gas to medium heat
• Add pinch of hing and clove powder to the oil
• Add half cup of water to the oil and let it come to boil
• Once the mix comes to boil, add the curd mix, and let it cook if required, add water - small quantities only
• Stir and mix and then add salt and potatoes
• Let it reduce, and let the oil separate out
• Add garam masala and cumin powder and mix well. Let it simmer for 2 - 3 mins
• Once done, add chopped coriander leaves and serve hot

Mutton recipe - Katra style

courtesy Chakh le India - Kacha Rasta

A very simple recipe, which goes back to making mutton the classical style using mustard oil. So I must warn all the health conscious folks, you might want to skip this one. Very rustic and earthy. Must try for a cold weekend.


Ingredients: 

• Mutton medium pieces - 1 kg
• Onion finely chopped - 1/2 kg
• 2 tbsp garam masala mixed in 1/2 cup of water
• Mustard oil - 1 cup
• 2/3 green chilies finely chopped
• Garlic cloves chopped - 8-10

• Ginger chopped - 1 inch
• 1 bay leave
• 1 brown cardamon (bada illiche)
• 2 cups of water
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

• Heat mustard oil in a deep pan (kadai or skillet)
• Add onion, & saute for 2 min or till brown
• Add green chilies, ginger, garlic, garam masala paste and saute
• Add brown cardamon and bay leave
• Add mutton pieces. Add salt. Saute in medium heat for 5 - 7 mins
• Add water and cover and cook on sim for 1 hour
• Stir in between, and if required add water
• Garnish with chopped coriander before serving

Cucumber, Orange juice smoothie

One of the things which health and diet advisers always keep saying, if you feel hungry instead of grabbing something to unhealthy and oily to munch on, snack on something healthy.

So here is the series on Smoothies for you. These are simple, good, tasty, healthy and they can be made really fast and without much fuss. If you have kids who tend go on battle with you once they hear about fruits and juices, this is a solution to your nightmares.

So here is a quick smoothie for your evenings. Serves 2 persons

Ingredients:

• Half of a medium size cucumber
• Orange juice - 1 cup
• Lemon juice - 1 tsp
• Cucumber fingers
• Ice cubes
• Mint leaves

Preparation:

• Peel half of a medium size cucumber and cut it into medium pieces.
• Peel the other half and cut them vertically to make fingers out of them
• Put the chopped pieces of the cucumber, orange juice, lemon juice and ice cubes into a blender
• Hit the button and blend it for about 2 mins.
• Pour the smoothie in a tumbler. Garnish with the cucumber finger and mint leaves

There you go. Cheers... mate!

Pasta with creame & mushroom

This recipe I picked up from the tv show Everyday Exotic on TLC.The simplicity of the dish inspired me. Even though I could not  pick all the actual ingredients that were required, I did my best.

Ingredients:

• Pasta - 200 gms
• Olive oil - 5 tbsp
• Butter
• Shallot or onions - 2
• Garlic - 4 cloves
• Thyme - 1/4 tsp
• Mushrooms - 200 gms
• White wine - 1/2 cup
• Whipped cream - 1/2 cup 
• Spinach - 150 gms
• Salt & black pepper

Preparation:

• Cook pasta as per the direction and keep aside
• In a pan add olive and let it warm up. Also add butter. Adding the butter with oil, ensures the butter doesn't burn
• Stir in the diced shallots & garlic. Add the salt and pepper. Saute them over low to medium heat, until they are golden brown
• Add the thyme and diced mushroom and saute them until golden brown
• Add white wine and stir and mix them all well.
• Mix the whipped creame & stir
• Allow the sauce to reduce, it should become thick. In order to check if its thick, dip the spoon and the sauce should coat evenly on the back of the spoon.
• Dice the spinach. Add spinach to the mix and mix them well. Let the mix cook for some time over low to medium heat
• Drain the water from the pasta and mix it with the white sauce. Mix well.
• Add salt & pepper to taste

Tandori Paneer with Vegetables

Ingredients

For Marinade

• Curd – 6 tbsp
• Salt – to taste
• Red chilies – 2 tbsp
• Pepper – ½ tbsp
• Cardamom – 3
• Green chilies – 6
• Oil – 2 tbsp
• Ginger Garlic paste – 3 tbsp
• Sugar – ¼ tbsp
• Lemon juice – ½ tsp

Other Ingredients

• Paneer – 300 gms
• Capsicum – 1 medium
• Onion – 2 large
• Carrot – 1 medium
• Tomatoes – 2 medium
• Oil – 5 tbsp
• Chat masala – to taste

Preparation

• Prepare the marinade
• Coarsely crush the cardamom so that the pods open up and seeds come out. Crush the green chilies coarsely (don’t make a paste)
• Mix all the ingredients together for marinade and keep aside
• Dice the Paneer to ½ inch cube; you may keep them larger as well. Dice the capsicum in large chunks however scoop out the seeds
• Similarly dice the tomatoes into large chunks, and scoop out the seeds from the inside. 
• For the onions, dice them into four large pieces
• Mix all these with the marinade and mix them well. Keep them in refrigerator for over an hour.
• Set the microwave to Convection mode. Pre-heat to 150 deg 
• On the microwave metal tray place all the ingredients so that they are nicely distributed. Sprinkle oil over the top.
• Microwave on convection mode @ 150 deg for 15 mins. After which take them out, toss a little and again microwave @ 150 deg for another 15 mins. Check if the vegetables are cooked. If not, then microwave again.
• Place your ingredients in a platter, add a dash of lime and sprinkle with chaat masala. Enjoy