Masala Baingan (Eggplant)

I have never been too fond of Brinjals - eggplant if that is how you know it. Not that I dislike it, but yes its not one of my favourite vegetables. But yes when its made nicely there is no skipping relishing it. 

In India people know this as Brinjal in English and Baingan in Hindi. Globally it is more commonly known as Eggplant. To add a joke to this Eggplant - Brinjal thing, here is an episode from my life, from long back probably when I was in junior college. I had ordered some Eggplant dish in one of posh Chinese restaurants in India. I was happily waiting for it thinking it to be some nice dish made out of EGGS!!! But after it was served  and when I tasted it, it was nothing like the egg I was used to eating :(

Till then I had not asked anyone (the server or my companions), but now after eating it and being confused as if something wrong was served to me, I finally asked and got the clarification that Eggplant is nothing but our very own Baingan and of course not eggs!!

And yes since then I know what an Eggplant is :):)

Other that the most popular Brinjal dish 'Baingan bharta' I also like the curry I have eaten so many times where tiny Brinjals are dipped in thick red gravy. It is a rich and spicy dish and I believe it is primarily a North Indian dish.

These tiny vegetables are available in the market almost almost annually. And here too in USA, the Indian grocery stores have plentiful of them all the time. So yesterday I picked up little less than a pound of them, about 10 pieces. I made a plan to make that gorgeous red curry with tiny Brinjlas floating in it. I had somewhat an idea how I would make it, and it came out really well. Just exactly how I wanted it - the colour, the gravy, the taste!! This was one successful project.

What I used :

(Serves 5)

• Brinjal (small ones) - 10 pieces (about 1 lb)

• Onion - 1 large

• Tomato - 1 large

• Ginger garlic paste - 4 Tbsp

• Coriander powder - 2 tsp

• Cumin powder - 1 tsp

• Aamchoor powder - 1 tsp

• Chat masala powder - 1 tsp

• Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

• Red chilly powder - 2 rsp

• Oil - 4 Tbsp, and also fro deep frying

• Salt - to taste

• Water - about 1/2 cup

How I made it :

• Make sure you pick small brinjals, and the ones with their stem tips on (green cap and a little twig).

• Carefully just try and remove the ugly / bad parts off from the stem tip (teh flowery portion and the tip) - check picture below to see what I have done.

• Wash the brinjals and pat them dry. Make a cut in each of them length - almost to the stem tip end, making sure not to cut them fully.

• Heat oil in a deep kadhai (pan) as we will deep fry the brinjals now.

• Once the oil is heated up, put the brinjals into it and fry them on high heat for about 2 minutes. Since these are tiny vegetables and oil is very hot, in about 2 minutes they should be done. We don't want them overly cooked. Take them out now and keep aside.

• Chop the large onion into tiny pieces - I used a food processor.

• Heat about 3-4 Tbsp of oil in a kadhai. Or you can use the same kadhai we just used for frying, after you take the oil out in a separate container.

• Fry the super-finely chopped onions till they are golden brownish.

 

• Add the ginger garlic paste now. Keep it on medium heat and let the ginger garlic lose their pungent smell.

• Now add the masalas / powders - coriander, cumin, turmeric, chilly, aamchoor and chat masala.

• Mix well and give it about 2 minutes on the gas.

• Put in the tomato purée now.

•  Add little water (about 1/4th cup) to this now. The gravy is completely ready now to take in the brinjals.

• So put the brinjals into the kadhai and lightly try to dip them in the gravy.

• Keep it covered. Don't mix, just lightly try to turn the brinjals upside down after about 3-4 minutes of simmering.

• Let them simmer in the gravy for about a total of 5-7 minutes, keeping the heat at medium.

• Remember that the brinjals are already almost cooked (when we fried them), now all we need is the gravy and flavours to seep into them.

• If you think the gravy is very dry just add the remaining water. This curry as such is not meant to have a thin gravy.

Once it is ready, savour it with steaming plain white rice!!

Dum Aalu (Baby Potatoes in Rich Gravy)

I love the baby potatoes that come to the market....Yeah the peeling part is a bit tedious though, but somehow I like to cook these baby potatoes - almost because they look so cute!!! I had got 1 packet for some time now but had not been able to make anything out of it. 

Yesterday I asked Rohit-Shikha (my close friends) to come over for dinner after they were done with their shopping. And I thought of making Puri with Dum Aalu. 

I was down with little fever but still went ahead and made a very tasty curry out of those baby potatoes. I  could not take pictures while I was cooking mainly because I was feeling a bit weak (time was also another constraint). Also that I  made it in a very quick / rough manner, without proper measurements of the ingredients. I will still try to explain as nicely as possible, how I made the curry so tasty..

What all I used :

(Serves 5-6)

• Baby potatoes - 2lbs

• Onion (large) - 2

• Tomato (large) - 2

• Ginger Garlic paste - 4 Tbsp

• Poppy seeds - 1 Tbsp

• Curd - about 4 Tbsp

• Sugar - 1 tsp

• Bay leaf - 1

• Black pepper-corn - 4

• Green cardamom - 3

• Black cardamom - 3

• Cinnamon - 1 small piece

• Clove - 4

• Red chilli powder - 2 tsp

• Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

• Garam masala - 2 tsp

• Dum Aloo curry powder - 2 Tbsp

• Oil - about 8 Tbsp

• Salt - to taste

• Water - 1 cup

• Butter - 2 tsp (optional)

How I made it :

• Wash the baby potatoes and put them to boil. I used a traditional Indian pressure cooker. Since these were baby potatoes 2 whistles was enough after I put the cooker on high heat. I switched the gas off but let the cooker be there on the heated gas plate. I let the steam inside the cooker pass out automatically - took about 15 minutes.

• Once the steam is gone out of the cooker open it carefully and keep it under running cold water. Let the potatoes cool before you can peel them.

• In the meanwhile, lets make the paste we need for the gravy.

• Take 1 full and half of the other large onion and cut them into about 10 pieces. Put them into a blender, add the poppy seeds and make a nice smooth paste. Avoid adding water but if need be add as little as water possible. I added the ginger and garlic (about 2 inches ginger + 1 whole garlic peeled and pods separated) into the blender and included in the paste. If you have the ready made ginger garlic paste use that.

• Take the half of the onion and chop into fine small pieces.

• Peel the baby potatoes now. You will notice they are just perfectly done.

• Take a non-stick pan, heat 1 Tbsp of oil in it.

• Put the whole baby potatoes (no poking, cutting, adding salt etc.) into the pan and fry them on medium-high heat. I used a very wide & falt pan so that the potatoes did not overlap each other and could get nice space to get fried, as I am trying to semi-fry them and add crunchiness to them and not cook them (remember they are already boiled=cooked).

• Fry them for about 5 - 10 minutes till they turn crunchy and brownish. (I so miss posting this pic now, for you could have had a better idea on how well to do the potatoes..). If you feel the potatoes are sticking to each other or the pan, add a bit more oil.

• Set aside the potatoes once they are done. I could not use the same pan as its flat and I need a deep dish for the gravy!!

• Take a kadhai, warm about 6 Tbsp of oil in it.

• Put the sugar and let it get brown. Keep a close watch and don't let it burn.

• Once the sugar starts turning brown, add the chopped onions.

• Put in the bay leaf, pepper-corns, cardamoms, cinnamon and the cloves.

• Fry the onions on high heat and let them turn nice brownish soon.

• Once the onions are brown, add the paste that we had made. Keep the heat at medium as the water in the onion paste will make it splutter. If you adding the ginger garlic paste separately, you may add it now .

• Now this will take some time to get cooked, as puréed onion takes more time & oil to lose its rawness.

• Keep stirring the onion paste in between, keep it covered and let it be on medium heat.

• In the meanwhile cut the tomatoes into a few pieces and blend them into a smooth purée.

• Also take the curd and beat it nice, we shall be adding it to the gravy soon.

• In about 10 minutes, add the salt, red chilly and turmeric powder, garam masala and the Dum Aloo masala to the gravy. I use the MDH masala for Dum Aloo - easily available in any Indian grocery store.

• Have patience as this onion + ginger/garlic paste will take some of your time before you can proceed :)

• If you feel that the gravy is sticking to the pan, add that reserve of 1 Tbsp oil.

• With the addition of the powdered masalas, the gravy will start taking a nice reddish brown colour.

• You will slowly start noticing the pungent smell from the gravy is reducing, as the paste is getting cooked nicely and the rawness is fading away. Don't miss to stir in between, regularly. Till now try to keep a lid over the kadhai.

• Add in the butter, if you want a dash of richness!!

• So its about 30 minutes of slow cooking (on medium heat) and the gravy is almost done.

• Add in the beaten curd now and mix well. Give it a minute.

• Put in the fried potatoes into the gravy. Mix gently but nicely so that all the baby potatoes are sunk deep in the gravy.

• In high heat, add about a cup of water and let the gravy almost boil. Once it start boiling bring it back to medium heat and cover it again.

• Let it sit on medium heat for another 10-15 minutes. I had the luxury to let it simmer and gravy to seep into the potatoes nicely, as I moved on to start making the Pooris!!

• I got my gravy thickened by giving some extra time to the curry!!

• So in about an hour, with some exotic spices, the baby potatoes could not have been better!!

Served them with hot Pooris.

Rohit-Shikha loved it and packed some with them for the next day ;)

Note :

• Making this with Ghee might turn out better, try it may be (I don't like the smell of ghee, so not my take)

• I bet you will find the Dum Aloo masala powder in any Indian grocery store, else substitute it with 2 tsp each of coriander & cumin powder.

• If you think this takes too much oil, then avoid using onion paste, do it with very finely chopped onion, and use considerable less oil.

• Make sure you have time in hands when you cooking this with onion paste, as you will need plenty of it before you could overcome the raw smell of the onions,but it's worth the wait as the gravy turns out super.

Aalu Methi Fry (Potato tossed with Fenugreek leaves)

I never have liked Methi so much.. Surprisingly though, I have been encountering it in the aisle of the fresh produce section, each time I visit the Indian store. Known as Fenugreek in English, it is used in Indian cuisine quite often, both in a dry form as well as its fresh leaves to make many types of curries. Methi may be bitter to taste but then it has its unique flavour to it. Its seeds are used for tempering many Indian dishes.

Couple of things that I like done with fresh Methi leaves -

Methi paratha - Indian bread stuffed with Methi leaves

Methi matar malai - Green peas with gravy of Methi leaves and cream

Abhishek likes Aalu a lot, so many a times I just toss and stir fry some potatoes in the morning rush and pack his lunch... Some day suddenly he asked me ''make something different with Aalu today''. And out of the blues all I could think of was trying it out with Methi..

What all I used :

(Serves 3)

• Potato - 2

• Methi (Fenugreek) leaves - 1 cup

• Dry red chilly - 2

• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

• Amchur powder - 1 tsp

• Oil - 2 tsp

How I made it :

• Clean the Methi -  Cut out the roots, use the stem only where the leaves are there - discard the rest of the stem, wash the leaves thoroughly under flowing water, soak it in water for some time so that all the dirt settles down, wash again. Thorough cleaning is necessary to make sure clean it nicely.

• Heat oil in a pan.

• Take 2 large sized potatoes. Peel them and cut them into small cubes.

• Once the oil is hot, break the dry red chillies and put them in.

• Add in the cumin seeds now. Just give them about 10 seconds (to get fried) as the oil is already hot.

• Put in the cut potato pieces. Mix well.

• Let it be on medium heat, uncovered. Keep stirring in between.

• Chop the Methi leaves while the potatoes get cooked.

• After about 5 minutes of cooking, the potatoes would have started turning softer. Add in turmeric powder and the amchur powder (green mango powder). I am using the Amchur to counter the slight bitterness of the Methi leaves. Mix well.

• In another 3-5 minutes the potatoes would have turned lovely brown. Toss in salt as per your taste.

• Now that the potatoes have been almost cooked, add in the chopped Methi. 

• Let us give the Methi about some 5 minutes on medium heat.

• The leaves will start losing their light green colour, slowly sinking in volume and turning into dark green. And this should be done now.

Eat with a hot plain paratha.

Note :

• To remove the bitterness of the Methi leaves, you could toss some salt on the chopped leaves and leave it for about 10-15 minutes before you cook it. Try and see if it helps.

Crunchy Karela (Bitter-Gourd)

I know, I know, most of you don't like Bitter-Gourd. And I (or no one) won't blame you for this..This vegetable is one of the most bitter things you could have ever tasted in your life!! 

Bitter-Gourd - It basically looks like a cucumber but has tapering ends and has small bumpy things (rinds / gourds) all over it. 

This is very commonly found in Asian countries and hence the popularity. Due to its bitterness I bet it will surely never be liked by any Westerners. But we should not forget the health benefits that we get from this un-sweet thing, most importantly its benefits to diabetic patients. 

In India it is more commonly know as 'Karela', and in my state Orissa (east India) we call it 'Kalara', almost sounding similar.

Many a people wonder - where is the dearth of things to eat that one has to resort to eating THIS!!!! I guess that argument holds good too. But I happen to like Karela and this one's for all those people like me.

Best way to kill the bitterness is to soak the cut pieces in salt water for about an hour before cooking.

A tip from my house-maid (from Chennai, India) - Since I was making this quite regularly in summers, she once told me ''This generates quite a bit of heat, so don't eat this so often in  this hot summer weather''. So my suggestion, keep your consumption under limits :):)

A word or caution to all the pregnant ladies out there - Avoid taking bitter-gourd as it is not good for you!!

Now enough of research on a simple vegetable which does not have a huge fan following..But then me too never liked it much, but then one day I had it the crispy way at one of my friend's place (can't remember who it was). Since then I make it this way and really relish it. I have offered it to many a people and they too have not disliked it..(If I say 'liked it', it would be an over-statement). Anyway try it this way, it is quite simple and you may just like it.

What all you need :

(Serves 3-4)

• Bitter-gourd 2

• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

• Red chilly powder - 1-2 tsp

• Oil - 2 Tbsp

• Salt - 2 Tbsp

• Water - 2 cups

First look for all those who don't know what a Bitter-Gourd is -

Bitter Gourd

How to make it :

• Take the Karela. Keep it horizontal on a chopping board and cut very thin slices out of it - refer picture below.

• Take about 2 cups of water (should be enough to soak the cut pieces) in a bowl.

• Put the salt and and mix well.

• Soak the pieces of Karela into this salt water, on room temperature. Keep it for about  an hour.

• Take a pan. Put the oil in it and warm it.

• Strain the Karela pieces out of the salt water, making sure all excess water is drained out.

• Put the pieces into the pan. Keep the heat on high.

• Stir and keep stirring in between, as we have the heat on medium-high range.

After 5 minutes of stir-frying

• Slowly they will start to turn brown and dry. Just in case they get too dry, add a little more oil.

• In about 10-15 minutes they would be almost cooked and no trace of that light green (their original colour) can be seen in them.

After about 15 minuted of stir-frying

• Add turmeric and red chilly powder.

• Toss and mix well. Let it be for another 5 minutes.

• Now it would have turned into a lovely colour of dark green with tinges of brown. Add in salt now, according to your taste.

• In about 2 minutes switch of the gas.

Goes best with Plain Rice and Daal. 

Note :

• Eat hot else it will lose its crunchiness.

• This is served as a side, so make sure you have another dish to go with your main dish (rice / daal).

• Serve little quantity of it.

• Take the shop keeper's help in case you are unable to pick up right ones.

• While cutting these, if you happen to get red seeds just discard those.

• Some people like it without seeds, you may take them out if you wish so.

• The thinner your slices, the crunchier they will cook.

• Keep additional oil handy as to make this perfectly crunchy, you may need to add a bit extra of it..

Chicken Jhalfrezi

Jhalfrezi basically is a curry with a thick gravy and mostly dry, main ingredients being onions and green pepper (capsicum) which is cut in chunk sized pieces. This kind of curry is generally spicy, anything from medium to very hot. You could also relate the word Jhal (of Jalfrezi) to the Bengali (part of east India) word which means hot / spicy.  Of course you always do it your way when you making it in your kitchen :)

And for a change who doesn't like a bit fiery taste to their tongue.

I had never tried it at home but eaten it many a times at restaurants so I had a good idea of the taste. Could not have been that difficult to make it when you have tasted it at various corners of the world!! And again all that I used for this dish comes right out of your kitchen shelves / refrigerator, with no special needs. This dish of chicken is best made with boneless chicken, that is how I have eaten all the time.

Green peppers add their own flavour to the whole curry, which is the best part of this dish. They  remain fresh and crunchy by the end of cooking (that is how you should cook them). 

What to use :
(Serves about 6)

• Boneless chicken - 1 lb

• Onion - 1 (large)

• Ginger garlic paste - 2 Tbsp

• Tomato - 2 small

• Green pepper - 1 (big), basically 1 cup of it chopped

• Green chilly - 2-4

• Cumin powder - 1 tsp

• Coriander powder - 1 tsp

• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

• Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp

• Oil - about 4-5 Tbsp

• Salt - to taste

• Water - for gravy

Garnishing - 
Chopped fresh coriander leaves

How to make it :

• Cut the chicken into 1 inch sized pieces.

• Take about 2 Tbsp of the oil and warm it up in a skillet, on high heat.

• Add the chicken to the skillet, once the oil is hot. Stir on medium heat, for about 5 minutes. We are not trying to cook the chicken fully but just trying to sauté it till it turns light brown. 

• Remove the chicken pieces from the gas and keep aside.

• Chop the onion.

• Pour in another 2-3 Tbsp oil in the skillet. Once its hot add the onions.

• Sauté it for about 5 minutes, on medium heat. They should basically turn golden brown by now.

• Add in the ginger garlic paste now. Stir nicely. Let the pungent smell of the paste go away. It should take about another 5 minutes.

• Cut the green pepper into chunks and add them to the pan.

• Put in the spices - cumin / coriander / turmeric / red chilly powder. Add salt according to your taste.

• Chop or slice the green chillies and add them in.

• Give the spices a minute on medium heat.

• Chop the tomatoes and toss them into the skillet. Mix well.

• After you let all of this to cook over medium heat for another minute, add in about 1/2 cup of water.

• Turn the gas to high and bring it to a boil.

• Now add the chicken pieces. Mix well. Let it simmer (without a cover) for about 10 minutes on medium heat.

• Make sure the green peppers are not too soft, and their green colour does not pale down, as we want to be chewing them with the chicken pieces.

• In that 10 minutes we will make sure that the gravy thickens.

I would any day prefer eating this with any kind of Indian bread, perfectly with a Butter Naan.

Note :

• Chop a few sprigs of coriander leaves and sprinkle while serving. 

• Make it little little spicy, that is the best way for Jhalfrezi.

• Keep in mind not to leave too much gravy as it should all dry up thickening the sauce.