Today’s entry is going to be a quick one, revived from the drafts, of an everyday dish at our home – gobhi ki subzi. I prefer stir fried dry subzi for lunch and curries for dinner. The dry subzis in Gujarat are usually made without adding any water. They’re made by just covering the kadhai with a lid. Sometimes water is poured on top of the lid so that only the water that forms by cooling the vapours is fed back to the subzi, just enough for it not to burn or get soggy by too much water.

For gobhi ki subzi (for 2 people), you’ll need -

1. 1/2 medium cauliflower, cut into medium florets
2. 1/2 cup fresh or frozen green peas
3. 1 potato, peeled and cubed (optional)
4. 1 onion, chopped
5. 1 tomato, chopped
6. 1 tbsp, ginger garlic paste
7. 1 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
8. 1/2 tsp haldi (turmeric powder)
9. 1 tsp garam masala (I used Everest kitchen king)
10. 1 tsp of dhania powder
11. 1 tsp of jeera powder
12. 1/2 tsp of red chilly powder or to taste
13. Salt to taste
14. 1 tbsp of oil
15. A pinch of hing
16. A handful of finely chopped coriander leaves

Heat up the oil in a kadhai. Once hot add the jeera seeds. When the jeera starts spluttering, add hing and onions. Add a pinch of salt and cook till edges of the onions start to turn brown. Add turmeric powder, ginger garlic paste, green peas, cauliflower and potatoes (if using) and salt. Mix well and cover with a lid. Pour water over the lid and let it cook on low heat. If the water dries up and the vegetables are not yet cooked, pour more water on the lid. In about 15 minutes, the cauliflower and potatoes will be tender (a knife should go through easily, but it should not be limp or soggy). Then add the red chilly powder, dhania and jeera powder, garam masala and tomatoes. Cover and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with phulkas.

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Paneer bhurji (For 2-3 people)

You’ll need

1. Paneer – 200 gms, grated or scrambled
2. 1 large onion – finely chopped
3. 1 tomato – finely chopped
4. 2 green chillies – finely chopped
5. a small handful of green peas
6. 1 inch of ginger – grated
7. 4 cloves of garlic – peeled and crushed
8. Coriander leaves, finely chopped – 1 tbsp
9. Turmeric powder – 2 pinches
10. Chilly powder – to taste
11. Coriander powder – 1 tsp
12. Cumin powder – 1 tsp
13. Garam masala powder – 1 tsp (optional)
14. Jeera – 1 pinch
15. Mustard seeds – 1 pinch
16. Oil – 1 tbsp

Heat oil in a kadai and once the oil is hot, add mustard and jeera seeds. Pop in the finely chopped green chillies and onions. Sprinkle a little salt and let the onions saute on medium till they are slightly browned. Add the grated ginger, crushed garlic and green peas and saute for a minute. Then add the chopped tomatoes and cook till the tomatoes are tender. Add the turmeric, chilly, coriander, cumin and garam masala.Then add the grated paneer, adjust the salt and switch off the gas. Garnish with chopped coriander and serve with hot fulkas or parathas.

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Palak paneer

Palak paneer is one dish I’ve had quite a lot of times at restaurants and I’ve made it at home a few times too. But the palak paneer that I prepared today was just out of this world! It turned out so perfect, we’re still biting our fingers. Don’t let the shoddy image let you think otherwise, trust me.

These days I’ve turned to vahchef’s recipes on youtube. He already has some 250+ recipe videos under his belt and he seems to have built a strong following on youtube. His name is Sanjay Thumma and he also runs this website call vahrehvah.com. I’ve tried his pizza (both base and sauce), custard and a few other recipes and they have all turned out perfect. Needless to say I am a huge fan. He has a very laidback, simple style of presentation, gives precise instructions including some precious tips and most importantly, he makes cooking look very interesting and fun. If he had a better voice, I would’ve almost had a crush on him. I mean come on he can cook, he has a goofy sense of humour and he can cook!

So here’s the Palak paneer recipe I used, based on vahchef’s recipe of palak paneer.

For Palak paneer, you need

1. Palak (spinach) – 1 big bunch or 2 medium size bunches, washed well and very roughly chopped
2. Paneer – 100 gms, cubed
3. 1 big onion, finely chopped
4. 1 tomato, finely chopped
5. Ginger – 1 inch, crushed
6. Garlic – 5 pods, crushed
7. Kasuri methi (dried methi leaves) – 1 tsp
8. Turmeric powder – a pinch
9. Chilly powder – to taste
10. Coriander powder – 1 tsp
11. Jeera (cumin) powder – 1 tsp
12. Whole jeera (cumin) – 1 tsp
13. Cream – 2tbsp
14. Lavang (cloves) – 3
15. Dalchini (cinnamon) – 1 small piece
16. Salt to taste
17. Oil

Method of preparation:

Take a large pot and boil lots of water. Once the water is boiling, add the roughly chopped spinach and let it cook, WITHOUT the lid for a minute or two, that’s all. Cooking without the lid, stops the discolouration and gives us a yummy looking rich dark green looking palak paneer. Remove the cooked spinach and keep it aside to cool. Reserve the water.

Meanwhile, take a thick bottomed pan and heat some oil. Once the oil is hot, add cloves, cinnamon and whole jeera seeds. Once the jeera starts popping, add the onions with the proportionate amount of salt and saute on low-medium flame for about 5-7 minutes. The key is to make the onions nice soft and tender so that we don’t get chunks of onion in the palak paneer. Once that is done, add the turmeric powder, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, chilly powder, coriander and jeera powder. Crush the kasuri methi in your palms and add it to the sauce. Saute this for 7-10 minutes, till the tomatoes turn really soft and are not lumpy.

Whirr the cooled spinach leaves in a blender and add a little reserved water, if necessary, to make it into a fine paste. Add this paste to the onion-tomato sauce and cook till you see oil droplets separating from the gravy. Add the paneer cubes. Add the cream, mix well and let it simmer for a minute or so.

Eat it with paratha or fulka rotis.

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When people say “Ooh I love my veggies” when the only “veggies” (how I hate that word) they’re eating is onions and tomatoes, it just makes me want to thrust a brinjal or two in their face. I hate brinjals, btw. Nothing against onions or tomatoes, I too use them quite a bit, but in my world they’re faux vegetables. I think they enhance a lot of preparations, but by themselves they kind of fall short. Sure you can live on onions and tomatoes, but then please don’t say “I love my veggies”. At least not in front of me, okay?

So, the other day I prepared this curry that used to be a regular affair at home. No fancy masalas, no overpowering flavours, just a simple homely everyday kind of dish this. Goes perfectly with phulkas or parathas.

For making doodhi chana nu shaak (for 3 people), you’ll need:

1. 1 medium doodhi (lauki), peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes (roughly 2 cups of chopped doodhi)
2. 3/4 cup chana dal (bengal gram dal), soaked in lukewarm water for 15 minutes*
3. 1/2 tomato, cubed
4. 1 tbsp oil
5. 1 tsp rai (mustard seeds)
6. 1 tsp haldi powder (turmeric powder)
7. 1 tsp mirch powder (red chilly powder)
8. 1 tsp dhana-jeeru or coriander powder
9. Salt to taste

Heat oil in a kadai and pop in the rai, haldi, mirch and dhana-jeeru. Add the doodhi cubes and soaked chana dal. Add 1.5 cups of water, salt and close the lid. Let it simmer for about 20-25 minutes. Adjust water and salt and cook till the dal is tender but still intact, not mushy.**

Add tomatoes and let it simmer for another minute or two and that’s all. It really is this simple.

*You can soak the dal first and then start the chopping of vegetables, so that it’ll be soaked and ready when you’re done cutting the vegetables.

**If you can cook the dal in cooker perfectly with the exact water and whistle ratios so that it gets soft, but not mushy, then you can further reduce the cooking time. The doodhi hardly takes 5 minutes to cook. You can just add the cooked chana dal once its cooked.

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Bharwa bhindi

Ingredients

1. Small & tender bhindi (okra)
2. Garlic cloves – 6 to 8
3. Besan – ¾ cup
4. Til (Seasame seeds) – 1 tsp
5. Chilly powder
6. Turmeric powder
7. Dhania powder
8. Garam masala
9. Hing(Asafoetida)
10. Salt
11. Oil

Method of preparation

Wash the bhindi and pat dry. Remove the stem and slit them vertically. To prepare the filling, add salt, turmeric, chilly and dhania powder, garam masala and crushed garlic to the besan. The crushed garlic should dampen the besan a bit. Add a tsp of oil in the besan, if it still feels too dry. Stuff the slit bhindi lightly with the besan filling. If you over-stuff the bhindi, the extra filling tends to ooze out while cooking and begins to char. Heat oil in a pan. Since this is a dry subzee, traditionally it is prepared with a little extra oil than the usual. But now with all the fuss about health and everything, you can cut down on the oil, if you are using a non-stick pan. Add hing, til and stuffed bhindi to the oil. Cover the pan and let it simmer for about 8-10 minutes. Keep stirring from time to time. To make it crisp, let it simmer for 5 more minutes without the lid. After it is cooked properly, sprinkle the left over besan filling and after two minutes or so, bharwa bhindi is ready!

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