Today’s entry to the weekly marathon is going to be a quick one – chana masala which is a staple at our home.

1. 1 cup black chana/desi chana, soaked overnight or for 6-8 hours and pressure cooked
2. 1 onion, finely chopped
3. 1 tomato, finely chopped
4. A few springs of coriander leaves, finely chopped
5. 1 tsp of rai (mustard seeds)
6. 1/2 tsp of ajwain
7. 1/2 tsp of haldi pdr (turmeric)
8. 1 tsp of freshly crushed ginger-garlic
9. 1 tsp of red chilly pdr
10. 1 tsp of garam masala
11. 1 tsp dhania pdr (coriander)
12. 1 tbsp of kasuri methi
13. 2 tbsp of oil

Heat up the oil and add mustard seeds. When they pop, add ajwain and chopped onion. Saute till slightly brown, add crushed ginger-garlic, kasuri methi and the tomatoes. Saute till tomatoes are soft and oil separates. Add the boiled chana  and adjust salt. Mix everything well and switch off the stove. Garnish with coriander.

Eat it/serve it as a snack or with hot phulkas.

————————————-

As 2009 draws to a close, I want to wish all of you a new year filled with love ,health, happiness, warmth and lots and lots of good food!!

Also, my special thanks go out to Nupur, for doing such a great job of organizing the week long marathon where all of us participants posted one recipe per day for a week. Frankly, I didn’t expect to last that long. But with a few minutes of extra effort everyday, I managed to post a new recipe everyday. I started looking forward to Nupur’s creatively written daily roundup posts  She read each and every entry daily, and posted a new recipe on top. Even a bad plumbing problem at home couldn’t stop her. Must say I have a lot of recipes from the marathon that I’ve bookmarked for trying out.

Oh and this marathon has given me a good reason to revive this blog, that has been dormant for a long time. It introduced me to some cool bloggers and got me comments!!! :) Thanks to all the fellow participants -

Anna Parabrahma: Anjali

Home Cook’s Recipes: Lavi

Food for Survival: Unpredictable

Daily Musings: Indosungod

Soup and Dessert: Radhika

Cook’s Hideout: Pavani

The Singing Chef: Raaga

Susvaad: Ramya

Blink and Miss : blinkandmiss

Malabar Spices: Mallugirl

Soulful Creations: Abbhirami

Pieces of paper, squiggly lines: Lavanya

My Foodcourt: Madhuli

Seven Spice: Sonia

Food, Travel, Books and More: Vinaya

Konkani Foodie: Ashwini

Ruchikacooks: Ruchikacook

A Homemaker’s Diary: Sayantani

Le Chaim: Mathangi

Kitchen Gossip: Kanchan

Out Of The Garden: Linda

The World according to Rujuta: Rujuta

Kiss the cook: Manasi

Asankhana: notyet100

Cooking with Koki: Koki

Siri’s Corner: Siri

Eats, Eats & Eats: Sheetal Kiran

Ruchii: Madhu

Jugalbandi: Jai & Bee

Once again, happy new year guys!!

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For me, Calcutta is synonymous with jhaal muri. I had my first jhaal muri there and though the mustard oil taste was a bit strange at first, I fell in love with it. There were jhaal muri walas everywhere – at bus stations, inside local trains, at all cross roads. I never missed a chance to grab a small sack of jhaal muri from a seller right across the street from where I lived. He even had hot sand in a kadhai going on one side, where he made fresh muri (mamra/kurmura/pori) by popping rice in the hot sand. He would then sieve the sand out of it. I remember for 2 rs. I used to get the “medium” sack which could last a quick chat with friends. And for 5 rs. we got the “giant” sack, which even I couldn’t finish by myself.

This is such a simple recipe and even though it is kind of like bhel, it has a mind of its own.

Mix muri (mamra/kurmura/pori), finely chopped onions, pieces of boiled potatoes, chana (the roasted kind), roasted peanuts, sev, finely chopped green chillies, salt, red chilly powder, jeera powder, a few drops of lemon juice and most importantly mustard oil. Mustard oil is what defines muri for me. You can play around with the rest of the ingredients you can add tomatoes, cucumber and remove a few, but you just can not compromise on mustard oil. And “jhaal’ means teekha/hot in Bengali, so you can make it as “jhaal” a muri as you like by adjusting the green chillies, red chilly powder.

This cone of jhaal muri goes as my 30th December entry at the one week recipe marathon from December 25th to 31st at Nupur’s One hot stove. .

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Yo! Today it’s gulab jamun time, my favouritest dessert of all times. One of the best gulab jamuns I’ve had was from a famous shop in the narrow streets of Jaisalmer, where I had gone on a “study tour” from college. They were huge, and cost a whopping 10 Rs per piece (this was more than a decade ago, circa 1997). Though nothing really beats my mother’s gorgeous home made gulab jamuns. She says she got the recipe from a friend’s dad who ran a professional catering business. And this recipe is the real deal. All of my extended family have been using this recipe for years and it has always given us perfect gulabjamuns that are juicy and soft (to the core). I like my gulabjamuns, both hot and cold (Ya, I’m greedy that way).

These days restaurants, shops and even at homes, people microwave the gulab jamuns to heat them up, and I absolutely HATE that. You can easily tell when a gulab jamun has been nuked, because it is sure to actually burn your tongue or at least numb it a little and ruin the experience. The core of microwaved jamuns is always unrealistically hot, which I can never be prepared for. Anyway I digress, getting back to the gorgeous gulab jamuns,

To make gulab jamuns (makes 28-30 pieces), you’ll need

1. 250 gms unsweetened mawa/khova/khoya (Buy the freshest mawa that you can get. Ask for “gulab jamun mawa” or unsweetened mawa.)
2. 62 gms of maida (Rule: 1/4 weight of mawa. I didn’t have a weigh scale so I used the cup equivalent – 1/4 cup and it was perfect)
3. 30 pieces of sakariya (opaque sugar balls often used for prasad. Please refer to the first picture below)
4. 30 pieces of elaichi seeds (You can throw the cardamom peels in your chai patti jar. Gives a nice flavour to chai)
5. 1 tsp of rose water
6. Baking soda
7. Oil for frying

For the sugar syrup

1. 500 gms of sugar (Rule: double the weight of mawa. I tried to make do by using just 2 cups, but I had less syrup and the jamuns were crowded.)
2. Water (Same volume as that of sugar. If you’re using 3 cups of sugar, use the same amount of water)

Pass the mawa through a fine sieve (the one used to sieve flour), by rubbing it on the sieve using your thumb or palm. This will remove any granules or lumps in the mawa for sure (unlike the kneading method which is vague and requires good expertise). Mix the mawa and maida and turn into a dough (no water or anything). Cover it with a damp kitchen cloth.

To make the sugar syrup, heat the water and sugar till you get a syrup of 1 string consistency. When you test a drop of syrup between your thumb and index finger, you should see a small and thin string form between your fingers, for the fraction of a second. Switch off the stove immediately. Add the rose water.

Heat the oil on low-medium flame. Pinch out a portion of the dough (I used 1/4th of the total dough at a time) from under wraps. Dip the face of your thumb in water and then in the baking soda. Your thumb will be covered with soda. Now knead the portion of the dough that you pulled out, with the soda on your thumb for a minute. Divide into 7-8 portions. Press each portion gently between your palms and make a ball. With your finger make a small dent in the ball and put one sakariya and one elaichi seed into it. Roll it back into a smooth ball, so that the sakariya and elaichi are sort of in the centre and fully covered with dough.

You need to fry these 7-8 jamuns in low-medium hot oil. To check if the temperature is right, throw a tiny piece of dough into the oil. If it floats on top immediately, the oil is too hot. At the right temperature, it should settle at the bottom and take about two seconds or so for it to float on top. Stir the oil gently with a wooden spatula and slowly add the jamuns. Keep stirring the oil with the wooden spatula, while avoiding touching the jamuns. This is so that they get evenly coloured. In about 8-10 minutes, they will get a perfect dark red colour. If they’re done too early, they’ll be uncooked inside. Drain the jamuns and dunk them into warm sugar syrup. If the syrup has turned cold, heat it on low flame to keep it warm. Lather rinse repeat for the remaining 3/4th of the dough. Keep the jamuns dunked in sugar syrup for about an hour and a half.

While the sugar syrups permeates the jamuns from the outside, our little sakariya would’ve melted and will also work its magic from the inside. This ensures that the core of the jamun too gets even sweetness. When you eat the jamun, there will be no trace of the sakariya, just sweetness and a grain of elaichi for subtle flavour.

Close your eyes and pop in a jamun. It’s sure to give you a glimpse of heaven. :)

I am sending these gulab jamuns as the 29th December entry for the one week recipe marathon from December 25th to 31st at Nupur’s One hot stove.

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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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A very dear friend from Coorg who’s now a hotshot chef, used to prepare this fragrant lemon rice in a jiffy, especially when we had left over rice. Brings back so many memories from the days when I had just started working and she was still studying. We shared the same dingy PG (paying guest accomodation), had limited money, but that never stopped us from having a blast!

For lemon rice you’ll need -

• 3 cups of cooked rice (cooked at least an hour before, ideally 4-5 hours ago)
• 2 tbsp of oil
• 2 tbsp of raw peanuts
• 1 tbsp of cashew nuts
• 2 green chillies, chopped
• 2 sprigs of curry leaves
• 1 pinch of hing (asafoetida)
• 2 tsp of skinned split urad dal
• 1 tsp of chana dal
• 2 tsp of rai (mustard seeds)
• 1 tsp of haldi (turmeric powder)
• 2 tbsp of chopped coriander leaves
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Fresh grated coconut for garnishing (optional)

Heat oil in a small pan. Once the oil is hot, add the urad dal, chana dal, rai and hing. Add in the peanuts and cashews. Finally add the green chillies and curry leaves. Switch off the stove and pour the hot oil over the rice, lemon juice and mix gently with a fork. If you didn’t add salt while cooking the rice, add it and mix everything well. Garnish with chopped coriander and grated coconut (if using).

I am sending this lemon rice platter as the 27th December entry for the one week recipe marathon from December 25th to 31st at Nupur’s One hot stove.

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For corn bhajias, you’ll need

1. 1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed
2. 1 onion, finely chopped
3. 1/2 cup besan (gram flour)
4. 3 tbsp of rice flour (I used brown rice flour, but white rice flour is perfectly fine)
5. 2 green chillies, finely chopped
6. 1 tsp freshly prepared ginger garlic paste
7. 1/2 tsp of whole jeera seeds
8. 1/2 tsp of whole coriander seeds
9. 1/2 tsp of baking soda
10. Salt to taste
11. Oil for deep frying

Take the oil in a deep-frying pan and while it’s heating up mix all the other ingredients, in a bowl. Add water (less than 1/4 cup) slowly -  a few drops at a time, till you have a thickish batter. Gently drop small roundles of the batter in hot oil. Fry evenly on both sides and keep on tissue paper so that it absorbs the excess oil.

Serve it with fried green chillies to get the roadside food effect (after you’re done with frying the bhajias, just deep fry 4-5 slit green chillies in the same hot oil for half a minute and sprinkle with salt. ) or ketchup or any chutney you like. They go perfectly with a cup of adrak chai.

This is my December 26th recipe for the one week recipe marathon from December 25th to 31st at Nupur’s One hot stove.

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I am a dal person. Dal fry makes a quick, humble, homely meal when served piping hot with phulkas or bhaat in a steel plate. When nostalgia hits and I crave something simple and desi to the core, I make dal fry with ghee instead of oil. The ghee makes the dal fry so fragrant and silky. Unfortunately, none of my friends or family share my love of ghee, so when I’m alone and lonely, this is one recipe I fall back on to comfort me. To make dal fry for 2 or 3 people, you’ll need

1. 1/2 cup chana dal
2. 1/2 cup moong dal
3. 2 tbsp of ghee (preferred, but can be replaced by oil)
4. 1 large onion, grated
5. 1 tomato, finely chopped
6. 3 dry red chillies
7. 1 small piece of cinnamon
8. 1/2 tsp of haldi powder (turmeric)
9. 1/2 tsp of red chilly powder
10. 1/2 tsp of dhania powder (coriander)
11. 1/2 tsp of jeera powder (cumin)
12. 1 tsp whole jeera seeds
13. 1 tbsp of freshly prepared ginger garlic paste
14. 1 pinch of hing (asafoetida)
15. Finely chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

Soak both the dals in water for 15-30 minutes, while you chop your vegetables. Pressure cook the dal with a little salt, so that it is cooked but not fully mashed up.Heat 1 tbsp ghee/oil in a skillet and saute the grated onions till slightly browned. Add in the ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, coriander and jeera powder. Add in the tomatoes and cook till tomatoes turn soft and fat separates. Pour the cooked dal and add water if required to get the desired consistency. Taste and adjust salt. Switch off after a couple of minutes.

In another small pan, heat the remaining 1 tbsp ghee/oil. Once hot, add jeera seeds, hing, dried red chillies, cinnamon and pour it over the dal. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

I am sending this recipe to the one week recipe marathon from December 25th to 31st at Nupur’s One hot stove.

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What’s a Christmas without gorging on rich moist yummy plum cakes! Come December and the husband takes it upon himself to hunt down the perfect Xmas plum cake and picks up plum cakes from all over the town. In Bangalore the only perfect plum cake I’ve had is that from the Taj’s Sugar and Spice available at the overseas women’s club (OWC) Christmas bazaar. The regular cakes available in the stores are too dry and the ones available at bakeries are too chyawanprashy. And none of these are eggless.

Every year I attempt baking eggless plum cakes but they never turn out perfect. Well, this time around I already had this Kerala style plum cake recipe in mind and was itching to try it out since months. This recipe is from Ammini Ramachandran (who single handedly led me to admire the rich vegetarian legacy of Kerala) who was invited as a guest at show me the curry.

I modified the recipe to make it eggless by using flaxseed powder as an egg substitute and the eggless plum cake turned out soft, moist and full of fruits and nuts – just the way a Christmas plum cake should be. Ignore the bad photographs because my zero photography skills don’t do any justice to this gorgeous eggless plum cake, more so because good eggless cakes are really so rare to get.

Here’s my eggless version of Christmas plum cake.

For Eggless Xmas special plum cake, you’ll need -

1. 2.5 cups of flour
2. 2 cups of sugar
3. 150 gms of unsalted butter, at room temperature
4. 2.5 cups of chopped nuts and fruits – I used cashews, almonds, walnuts, sultanas, raisins, figs, tutti fruti, black currants, apricots.
5. 3/4 cup of pitted and chopped dates
6. 1 tbsp of chopped candied ginger
7. 1/2 cup of rum or brandy
8. 4 tsp of flaxseed powder, mixed in 1 cup of water
9. 1 tsp baking powder
10. 1 tsp vanilla essence
11. 3 cloves, powdered
12. 1/2 tsp of nutmeg powder
13. 1 tsp of cinnamon powder

For the caramel

1. 6 tbsp sugar
2. 3 tbsp water
3. 1 tsp of lemon juice
4. 1/2 cup of boiling water

Pour a couple of spoons of rum over the chopped dried fruits and nuts and store them in a jar overnight. If you have the time, you can soak them in enough rum to cover the dried fruits and nuts, for weeks or even months like it is done traditionally. But I personally didn’t find the taste compromised because of the overnight soaking.

Next day, take 1/2 cup of rum in a pan and add the chopped fruits and nuts and heat everything for a couple of minutes, while mixing it well.

For the caramel, take 6 tbsp of sugar and 3 tbsp of water in a pan and heat it till the sugar dissolves and turns into caramel (approx 6-7 minutes). Do not use a spoon or spatula, just keep swirling the pan as necessary. Once it turns into a nice golden brown caramel colour, gently add 1/2 cups of boiling water. Be very careful while doing this, as boiling hot caramel can cause some serious burn injuries.

I find it difficult to powder small amounts of spices, so I added 2-3 cloves, one small piece of cinnamon, one small piece of nutmeg in the jar with the sugar while making powdered sugar. Beat the softened butter, powdered sugar, vanilla essence and flaxseed powder dissolved in 1 cup of water together using a hand blender or whisk till light.

Sift the flour, baking powder and slowly fold it into the butter and sugar, adding a little at a time and whisking it well. Again whisk this mixture well and finally add in the fruits and nuts.

Grease the pans well with butter, specially the corners and dust it lightly with a little flour. Pour the cake batter in the pans and bake it in a preheated oven on 180 C till the top turns golden brown or a when a skewer comes out clean. Invert on a wire rack and let it cool for 30 minutes. Then gently tap the bottom of the mould.

Voila – take a fork and dig in!

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If I may say so myself, the biryani was light, colourful and loaded with all the good stuff. I served the biryani with some onion raita and chips and it was very fulfilling. For detailed instructions to the recipe, please watch the video or logon to their website.

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Also I figure it is more difficult for a woman to drive because have you seen the way roads are choked with billboards these days? I bet the number of bad women drivers shoots up during sale times.

Ho Gaddi jaandi ae chalanga maar di…

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