Rasaswad

This one's a keeper for every time you have friends coming over and you're tired of doing same old pav bhaji. Dabeli is actually much easier to put together, since there's no veggies to prepare, nothing to fry (as in Vada pav) and most of the ingredients are already in your pantry. It's just a simple, no fuss, chatpati dish for a fun-filled evening with friends. Just add a dessert, and you're good to go. I always think of two people when I make this - a friend of mine and my mom-in-law. They both love it. So here's the recipe for both of them:  Filling: Boil, peel and mash potatoes. Heat some oil in a pan. Add whole jeera, and chopped onion (the quantity of onion should be small. Unlike curries, you need just a little bit of onion for this). Saute till translucent (do not brown). Add some chopped tomato and saute some more. Add a little bit of Haldi, red chilli powder, dhani-zeera powder, salt and a big handful of Dabeli Masala (I use Spicezza brand). Saut...

Many Indian families follow the tradition of making a dish with 5, 7 or even 9 vegetables on Diwali. I guess it's a way to make sure you eat something healthy in the middle of all the sweets and treats. I started following my in-law's tradition of making chachar-pachar, a dish with 7 vegetables after I got married, but this is the first year I didn't end up with too big a pot. Also, each one was cooked perfectly. The key was to keep the vegetable pieces slightly on the bigger side, and of course, timing them correctly. Here's what I did. Peel and dice 1 big yukon gold potato, 1 red-skinned, indian style, white flesh, medium sweet potato and 1 big carrot into about 1 inch cubes, keep in water until ready to cook. Peel a big block of Dudhi (Lauki) and dice into 1 inch cubes. Peel 4-5 Parwal (the small, oblong, watermelon like looking vegetable) completely and cut into half. Cut 4-5 baby eggplants into 4 pieces each. Wipe, dry and then cut Okra into about 2 or 3 pieces e...

Achari Kumbh: (Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe..pasted from his website ) This makes a great appetizer..is super duper quick to make and pretty tasty..just be careful with the salt...I wasn't and ended up with slightly salty version. Also, L. pointed out that mustard oil would have been nice in this dish, and now that I sat down to document, what do I notice? the recipe calls for mustard oil! This is what I'm married to folks! Ingredients • Button mushrooms 25-30 • Mustard oil 3 tablespoons • Asafoetida 1/4 teaspoon • Cumin seeds 1 teaspoon • Onion seeds (kalonji) 1/2 teaspoon • Fennel seeds (saunf) 1/2 teaspoon • Mustard seeds 1 teaspoon • Fenugreek seeds (methi dana) 1/4 teaspoon • Ginger-garlic paste 2 tablespoons • Red chilli powder 1 1/2 teaspoons • Turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon • Black salt (kala namak) 1/2 teaspoon • Salt to taste • Vinegar 3 tablespoons • Cucumber,for garnish a few slices Method Sepa...

If you're one of those couples, where you say "veggies", and he thinks "potatoes"; you say "protein" and he thinks "cheese"; you say "fiber" and he thinks "pizza", then this recipe would make both of you happy. Well..there aren't any potatoes here, but still..it has the flavor profile that most veggie-haters can bare. And admit it, some days, when the summer veggies are still around, but it's a cold rainy day in fall, you want some ooey-gooey cheesy - ricey stuff too! (Inspired by a Sanjeev Kapoor Recipe) Here's what I did: Took two big peppers - one green and one red and slit it into half cross-wise. Remove the seeds and ribs (can keep the stems if you like). Lightly salt and rub with a little bit of olive oil and set aside for about 10 minutes. In the mean time, finely chop one small white onion, one clove of garlic, a small green pepper (I had a good one from the farm), and finely dice one carrot. He...

Answer: Oil, garlic, chilli, peanuts, sesame seeds, scallions and cilantro. Both the regions have figured out the magic of this combination...almost identically...and it's some combination. Caution - this can be extremely addictive.A restaurant near my home, called Sichuan Gourmet makes these absolutely addictive cold noodles. Here's my attempt to re-create them: Boil thin noodles (the ones they use are closer to angel hair pasta), I ended up using rice noodles, since that's what I had around. Cool the noodles in cold water and set aside. Roast peanuts lightly and crush coarsely. Also roast sesame seeds and crush very coarsely. Coarsely crush garlic. Heat some vegetable oil and add the garlic on medium heat and let it cook. When it's cooked for a bit, add a pinch of red chilli flakes and cook some more (do not brown). Now, add a paste made with spicy chilli powder (like cayenne) + paprika + water into the garlic oil, and then turn off the heat. Let the oil cool dow...

You really can't go wrong with this if you're seriously homesick. But I didn't say this was an easy cure. It takes time and patience...but as you go through the process, you re-live the moments spent in the distant past and you remember every utensil in your mother's kitchen used for making this - the big iron Peni (Kadai), The stainless steel Kathrot (Paraat) and the charni (sieve). You struggle to find the right substitute utensils and hope the ingredients sort of taste the same. They don't. But it's still worth the try. Churma Laddoo. Take some (about 2 cups) of coarse whole wheat flour (for Laddoo). This is not Sooji. It's not the atta for Roti. It is also not Lapsi. It will be marked as Laddoo flour. Add about 3/4 cups of ghee and rub into the flour. Basically, if you hold the flour, it should almost form balls. This is called "Muthi Padtu Mon". Now add whole milk to form a very soft dough. Remember, the coarse flour is going to absorb a ...

It's that time of the year again. Farm share...flooding in Kale and Collard greens and Zucchini. After a few weeks of losing the battle and throwing away produce, I decided I won't give up. So last evening, I started fighting the fridge overload like a warrior princess, and grilled up a whole bunch of veggies, made a big Chinese stir fry, Pay bhaji and a big pot of soup. I feel like I might have conquered the veggie army for 3-4 days. Here's the soup recipe. It's inspired from many online recipes..and this is my version: In a big pot, heat some olive oil. Add a cup of diced (not too small) red onion, a cup of diced carrots (also keep it chunky) and stir. After the onion softens a bit, add half cup each of diced red and green peppers. Saute everything for a few more minutes. Add one big clove of finely chopped garlic, a big block of finely chopped ginger, and finely chopped rosemery, thyme and oregano (remember, it's farm share season, but don't over do the he...