banaras ka khana

These could well qualify to be called as Shakarkandi ke gutke, which is a sticky chaat made using tamarind and black salt, some red chilly etc etc. These sweet potato finger chips are a diantier, drier version of them. Shakarkandi or sweet potatoes as we call them in India, are actually a yam. We get the purplish skinned, pale flesh variety here but the Vitamin A content is not compromised much. This is the season for sweet potatoes and I love getting all fresh produce that I see in the markets. After all the fruits and vegetables come packed with nutrients when they are at the peak of their growth or fruiting stage.

Shakarkandi is roasted on charcoal traditionally in winters and is tossed up in a quick chhaat with either kala namak and lime juice or with slices of star fruit that comes in this season too. I make several versions of chaats and salads with sweet potatoes and add them to a few curries as well. Yes I learnt adding sweet potatoes ever since I tasted the famous Labra that Bengalis make and the winter special Undhiyu that Gujratis make. I feel I am a sucker for rustic foods from regional cuisines and can't get enough of it.

But this recipe is beautiful to look at, dainty chips that won't let you rest in peace until you have polished off the last crumb. I usually make it for our weekend teas or as a part of an elaborate meal sometimes. But a healthy snack it is when the two of us are alone at home, the snack sometimes gets too much and we skip the next meal. It's a free world you see :-)

I would say the recipe is very simple. Now, a simple recipe is not a new thing on my blogs, you probably come back to my recipes because they are simple and doable, healthy and tasty. Please say yes. I will feel happy.

ingredients
(makes 2-3 large servings, as a filling snack)

one large fat sweet potato with skin, about 200 gm
2 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fine red chilly powder
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp sesame seeds

procedure

Discard any spotted skin from the sweet potato and brush it clean. Now chop it in batons 1 cm thick. You wont get nice and crisp finger chips if you cut them thicker, but the taste will be great, so don't worry if some of them are a bit thicker.

Toss all the ingredients together and spread them evenly all on a baking sheet. Adjust seasoning before you bake, it's all a matter of personal taste and there should be a good balance of sweet, sour and hot in this recipe.

I use silpat but you can use parchment paper or a nonstick baking pan or a glass or ceramic baking dish. Bake at 200 C for 10 minutes, toss once and bake again for 7-10 minutes or till you see almost dry finger chips, sesame gets crisp so you get the idea. The chips are softer inside.

Great accompaniment to tea or coffee. You can always serve it along with some cream cheese or feta cheese as an aperitif.

Let me know if you try the recipe. We have been having them regularly this winter, taking advantage of season's bounty. Who cares for fried snacks when we can bake them right.

Lasun mirch wala keema is not as intensely garlicky or intensely hot as the name suggests. So relax. This a creamy curry with pleasant notes of garlic and green chilly peppers where you get sweeter taste of chillies more than the heat. This mutton mince curry with loads of garlic and green chillies is soul satisfying type of food if you believe me. It replaces our soup dinners in winters many times and we fall for kadak mixed grains roti with it, although we eat more of the curry and less roti, the curry is so addictive good.

Green chillies come in all shapes and sizes, with different heat levels and we use them for differently in our food. We are spoiled for the chilly peppers varieties now a days, Jalapenos, Anaheim, Serrano, Poblanos and Cayenne are some of the varieties visible in the markets. I usually get a small bag of all of them and keep using them to make pickles, stuffed chillies etc. But I mostly like them to be used in my soups or stir fries depending on how hot they are and how much flavour they pack for the recipe. So when I need the rich chilly flavours and lesser heat I use the Anahiem or Jalapenos or a mix of these two.

Go for the larger and wider chillies if you want the sweet flavours of chillies in your recipes, especially if you live in India and the chillies are not labeled by their names in the local markets.

This lasun mirch wala keema recipe I was planning to cook this winter and yet something or the other kept distracting me from this keema recipe. I make a nice mirchi goshttoo but this lasun mirch wala keema is a totally different bouquet of flavours. Just a few spices are used and a nut paste makes this dish a rich meal without many side dishes. You wont need much when this lasum mirch wala keema is in the menu.

ingredients
(2-4 servings depending on side dishes)

keema (mutton mince) 300 gm
garlic cloves 50 gm
mild variety of green chillies 80-100 gm
melon seeds 50 gm
cashew nuts 20 gm
whole coriander seeds 1 tsp
cinnamon stick 1 inch piece
green cardamoms 2
chopped coriander greens and stems 100 gm
ghee 1 tbsp or 15 gm
salt to taste ; 1 tsp will be good enough

procedure

Soak the melon seeds and cashews in hot water for 10 minutes and make a fine paste. Keep aside.

Mince the garlic and slice the green chillies. Keep aside.

Heat ghee in a thick base pan, preferably a handi and tip in the whole spices in it. Wait till the spices get lightly aromatic, taking care not to brown them. Add the minced garlic and sliced chillies at once and keep stirring till it all looks translucent. Do not brown the garlic or chillies, we want them to be just a bit translucent.

Add the keema and the chopped stems of coriander greens. Save the chopped coriander leaves to be added in the last phase of finishing the dish. Stir fry for a minute and add 2 cups of water, bring to a soft boil and then simmer for about half an hour, preferably covered but take care not to let it spill.

Add the nut paste and coriander leaves. Adjust the gravy consistency by adding some water if required, or simmer without the lid to reduce if you feel like.

Simmer again after adding the nut paste till the fats float on the surface. This is the time the dish is ready. Serve hot with any Indian style bread, roti or naan.

We generally don't need any accompaniments with this lasun mirch wala keema. It is an indulgence to be enjoyed in singularity.

Harey chane or green garbanzo beans are a seasonal pleasure. Tender kernels of green gram, sweetish in taste and a fresh crunch in the texture. How much I dig for season's fresh produce and this one is really a prized catch whenever we get them fresh. The tender green legumes are available in the winters, in abundance in rural areas and small towns across India, the legumes mostly still attached to the whole plant. Yes, the whole plant is uprooted and sold in markets for a reason. The chana plant gets almost dry and woody when the beans ripe, the rural folk fire up the whole plants in bundles during winter evenings, sitting in their veranda or in the open. A good campfire that results in fire roasted tender green chana which is shelled out of the charred legumes and had with either jaggery or chilly garlic chutney. I see this as a very clever and practical way to spend evenings outdoors in foggy winters of Hindi heartland with a warm nourishing snack being prepared on the spot. It has been ages we did that, it was an occasional thing that we did as kids. Banaras still gets some hara chana horha as the whole plant with green gram is called.

We get these tender harey chane shelled here in Delhi and I buy a bag of it whenever I spot it. I remember how we used to make harey chane ka nimona, ghugni and even desserts with it. We are having our fill of harey chane ki subzi with potatoes for spicy winter meals right now. This sibzi is also called as ghugni but harey chane ki ghugni will be more dry if made the traditional way.

We mostly have this subzi or ghugni as it is for breakfast, some crackers are had with it sometimes and Arvind wants a crisp flaky paratha with it sometimes. This is something you can even have with rice for a lunch or dinner. Truly versatile as my grandmother used to say..chane ke kayee khaney (many foods with gram), green gram of hara chana is something you wait for the whole year. Small little things to make you happy.

This subzi is more like a quick ghugni that is made with minimal oil and powdered spices. Winter morning are so hassled we want quick and tasty food, something that cooks in a pressure cooker with minimal seasoning and powdered spices from masale ka dabba. Yes, I am reminded of the masala dabba in my mom's kitchen, I don't use any masala dabba now as there just too many spices and powders to keep.

ingredients

hara chana 250 gm

one large potato scrubbed and cubed

everyday curry powder 2 tsp

turmeric powder 1 tsp

chopped coriander greens and stems 2-3 tbsp each

red chilly powder or chopped green chillies to taste

salt to taste

mustard oil 1 tsp or a bit more

sometimes I chuck in a few roughly chopped garlic too

amchoor 1 tsp

procedure

Heat mustard oil in pressure cooker pan and make a paste of all the powdered spices with 2 tbsp water. Tip in the spice paste into the hot oil and stir for a few seconds till the spices get aromatic.

Add the potato cubes and toss well to coat. Add salt and chopped garlic if using. Add the chopped coriander stems as well, sometimes I add 2-3 tbsp of green chutney to this subzi and get a nice tangy green hued subzi. Add that if you have some chutney in the fridge.

Now add the hara chana, toss to coat well. Add a cup of water and pressure cook till the first whistle blows. Take off the flame, let the pressure get normal, open the lid and add the amchoor powder.

Mix the subzi well so some of the potatoes get mushed up and make the subzi a mish mash or potatoes and harey chane. Serve hot or at room temperature. This subzi is meant for a rustic meal, a favourite with kachori and poori lovers but we rarely had this with pooris.

Since the subzi tastes so good even at room temperature, Arvind loves it in his lunch box as well. The spicing can be adjusted if you like some aromatic garam masala but we never made this curry with any garam maslaa added. The everyday curry powder works really good for it.

We like a simple salad with harey chane too. A tomato salsa is mixed with rinsed green garbanzo beans and had like a salad or as a tea time snack with added puffed rice to it.

To make the tomato salsa, just chop 2 large tomatoes, microwave them for a minute and mash them with the back of a fork. Add chopped garlic, chopped green chillies to taste, salt and a little mustard oil and mix well. Add a little vinegar if you want to keep the salsa for a day or two in the fridge. Add chopped onions or spring onions and mix with the harey chane or use otherwise. Ass much hara chana for as much tomato salsa you want. Make it to your taste and enjoy.

Another harey chane snack is a quick stir fry in mustard oil and cumin seasoning for us.

This one is a really nice namkeen type snack with our evening tea. Just heat 1 tsp of mustard oil, chuck in a tsp of whole cumin seeds and may be one broken dry red chilly. Add about 200 gm hara chana and salt to taste, mix well to coat and cover the pan and let it cook for 3-5 minutes on low flame. I do it till the milky ginger tea boils on the other side of the stove. You might need to stir it once or twice in between. Squeeze lime or sprinkle amchoor powder if you wish and have warm with tea.

I know you make some equally yummy snacks with harey chane as well. Share them with me and other readers here. Sharing is a great way to learn more.

I am dreaming of the harey chane ka horha with some hot lasun mirch ki chutney till then. May be I get a chance to taste that smoky goodness this season.

When one talks about Dawat-e-Awadh, be assured it is mostly about non vegetarian food. Awadhi cuisine is either mughlai which is quintessentially non vegetarian or it is Bramhin cuisine which includes loads of milk products, vegetables, lentils and desserts and can include or exclude onion and garlic. You would find a vast variety of koftas, pasandas, kormas and pulaos in bramhin vegetarian cuisine that has a clear influence of mughal food of Awadh. But then there is some more variety like Tahiri and khichdi, daal and rice, pooris and kachoris, curries like nimona and tawa fries, miloni subzi, gatte, kheer and a wide array of mithais etc that are essentially the vegetarian food of the Gangetic plains.

There is a whole word of Bramhin vegetarian food from Awadh but today I am talking about the royal mughlai food that is so synonymous with Awadh and is considered the root stock of all mughlai cuisine offshoots around India. Mughlai food is very very different in these regions of India and Awadhi is subtle, aromatic and rich with milk products and nuts along with saffron and flower essences, supposedly an influence the Mughals took from the Bramhins of the Gangetic plains, not sure about the influences but the result is history.

We got to taste some good Awadhi food at Cafe Uno, Shangri-La's Hotel here in New Delhi. We liked a few dishes there and the taste still lingers on.

The best thing was the Nawabi Tangdi. A drumstick of chicken stuffed with chopped nuts and khoya and then grilled in tandoor, wrapped with foil. Chef Anwar Ahmed and Chef Abhinandan Singh told us that they have created flavours that are essentially Awadhi but have used modern cooking techniques and presentation to suit the requirements. The result was good as I witnessed. I would definitely be trying the flavours of this stuffed tangdi in my own kitchen.

Khoya is a favourite ingredient of the region and lends a nice sweetness to a dish and this Nawabi Tangdi was a good example of how Awadhi cooks meld the flavours of spices and milk products along with nuts to create magic.

We liked the Mahi Tikka Chutney wala and it was really good too. A river fish grilled with a smear of green chutney. The Awadh ka Malai Murgh was succulent and soft as the name suggests and was really creamy too. Tender boneless thigh pieces done right.

What stumped me among starters was a nice Vegetarian Galaouti Kabab. Who would think a vegetarian galouti kabab can be nice tasting. It had the right texture and a really nice taste too. I finished the one on my plate unexpectedly.

Alu nazakat was avoidable, vegetarians might like it. Khumbi pyaz was nice but nothing notable. But vegetarians have a really good option in Mirchon Wala Paneer.

This is something very intriguing, a paneer dish cooked with pickled stuffed red chillies. I loved it. But the addition of bell peppers was unnecessary. I would get rid of them when I try this recipe in my own kitchen. Yes I am doing that very soon.

Nargisi kofta was nicely done. The flavors of seekh kababs that we get in Delhi more than awadhi I would say, but really a nice kofta curry.

This Murgh Shameena looks beautiful on the table. With soft iceberg like egg white poached meringues floating in a white creamy gravy, this dish may become a conversation point. The chicken and the gravy are nice too.

I liked the flaky crisp parathas too, tandoor baked rightly and very good accompaniment to everything we tasted. We did not have any space for desserts, they have some phirni, kheer and kulfi etc on the menu and we decided to share a paan kulfi. Their paan kulfi comes from Kuremal in purani dilli and it is as good as it can be. We did end up having a few bites even after being stuffed to the gills.

I have seen some nice dehydrated paan at Rupak stores and might be one of the first kulfis to be tried this summer. I wouldn't mind some nice paan kulfi even now. It has been some time since I had a nice paan, some kulfi might work fine.

We have been on a hara chana high for sometime. It was the easy and yet exotic option for quick snacks and ghugnis all through this winter. I was developing a lot of non vegetarian recipes for someone and was fed up with not having my own choice of food for a while. I always love cooking my food on my own whims, my own 'flavours for the day' and when I have to work on something which is fixed, I feel a bit suffocated in terms of food choices. I don't know if you relate to it or not, but give me the fanciest of foods on a day when I want a simple khichdi, I will not be happy eating them. But that is another story.

Some of the seasons fresh produce gave me hope and I enjoyed some quick foods of my choice as well.
Harey chane ka halwa looks and sounds tricky but it incredibly simple and quick.

Hara chana, fresh green peas and some thukpa and thenthuk type soups were a great relief as they take minimal effort to be cooked. I made hara chana jhal mudi many a times for a tea time snack and loved it. But then a friend from Banaras reminded me of this hare chane ka halwa and I got transported to the older days when we never counted our desserts.

Not that we ate too much desserts as a family but we usually had everything we wanted. I think we never knew so much abundance of all things super sweet vying for attention all the time. Home made real food desserts were the norm and we grew up to become fit healthy individuals. Cakes were very occasional even if we had started baking at younger age, all of us siblings used to have so much fun in the kitchen. This harey chane ka halwa brought back all those memories.

This halwa would remind you of the halwas of Kerala and Tamilnadu (probably other states of south India as well) where they make pineapple and ripe jackfruit halwa and dehydrate it so much that it make a nice dense cake that can be sliced like karachi halwa. But this harey chane ka halwa is not that dehydrated and doesn't keep well at room temperature. This is something to be had the same day or to refrigerate and consume the next day.

ingredients
(makes 9 large squares, or 6-8 servings)
hara chana (tender green garbanzo beans) 200 gm
pistachios 25 gm (you can use cashew too)
sugar 25-50 gm as per taste
ghee 30 gm or 2 tbsp
chopped pistachio for garnish

Some people add khoya to this halwa but I like it without khoya. If you want to add khoya, you can make instant khoya in microwave by following this recipe.

procedure

Make a powder of pistachios first, add the hara chana in the blender and make a smooth paste of the two.

Heat ghee in a kadhai and pour the paste in it. Stir continuously for about 5 minutes and you would see how the green paste starts getting smooth and a bit gummy.

Add the sugar and stir more to cook further. The halwa will start looking shiny and sticky. This is the time you pour it into a deep plate or a square dish of suitable size. Spread it in even layer, thickness can be of your choice. Mine was 1 cm thick layer. Sprinkle chopped pistachios over it and press with your fingers so they embed well.

Let it cool in refrigerator for an hour or so, cut squares and serve as required.

Alternately, you can serve the halwa hot or warm like gajar ka halwa.

The taste is rich and nutty and very very delectable. This halwa will be one of those good looking desserts you can serve for formal meals as well.

Let me know if you try this harey chane ka halwa. You can make such a halwa with green peas too, but the taste will be a bit different as peas don't have that nuttiness that hara chana lends to this halwa. I hope you get hara chana in your part of the world.

I keep getting requests to post recipes or videos of how to make makki ki roti or any millet roti perfectly. Taking step wise pictures or making a video was not possible for now but I thought of letting you all know a nice shortcut way to make makki ki roti nice and round without much hassle. This roti is softer and rolls out better on the chakla belan. It wont be a fright anymore to make makki ki roti.

I can make a normal makki ki roti with ease, just taking care to knead the dough using hot water. I can easily pat the roti in my hands, I have large hands by the way, and flip it on the hot griddle. But it comes with practice. You might find it tough if you are new to rotis or have never handled any millet flour. The roti in the picture is hand patted and made the old fashioned way as I did not want to dilute the makki ka atta taste, our neighborhood chakki wala had made really fresh makki ka atta this time.

The trick I do when I am in a hurry and want the rotis to be rolled out on the chakla nicely, I cook some oatmeal with water and knead the makki ka atta with that. No more cracked edges, thinner roti and easier handling on the griddle too. The rotis stay softer even when cold.

The ratio for the dough is, 2 heaped tbsp of oatmeal to be cooked in half cup of water, salt can be added but I normally avoid it. Now add a cup of makki ka atta and knead well, you might need to add a little more makki ka atta if you can't handle soft dough on the chakla belan.

The same method works for jowar or bajra rotis as well. Try that if you find cooking millet rotis difficult.

Now the recipe of this new version of sarson ka saag. I make this spicy version of sarson ka saag every winter but last year I saw a recipe by a friend Promila that looked really interesting and very different from what I cook. It was without any garam masala or tomatoes or even onions that I used to add diligently.

I could not cook it last year and this season too it got really late. But better late than never. In the last leg of winters when the mustard greens are on their way out, I bought a huge bunch and got set to make some sarson ka saag. I actually made two versions and loved them both. Here is the first version which is based on Promila's recipe.

ingredients
(makes about 4 cups of saag, serves 2 hungry people like us, the saag makes a meal for me, makki ki roti is incidental)
mustard greens with stems 500 gm
spinach with long stems 250 gm
salt to taste
makki ka atta 2 tbsp
ghee 3 tbsp
finely chopped ginger 3 tbsp
chopped green chillies 2
deghi mirch powder 2 tsp

procedure

Peel the stems of mustard greens if it is too hard. Clean and chop all the leaves and stems.
Clean and chop the spinach as well. Promila's recipe uses only spinach stems but I could not discard the leaves as these were from my own garden.
Boil both the saags in a kadhai covered with a fitting lid, with added salt to taste. No water is required if you have washed the greens just before cooking. It takes about 20 minutes to get cooked. Cool down and blend in mixie or use the hand blender to blend it in the kadhai itself.

Now add the makki ka atta and mix well. Cook till the saag puree starts puffing up in violent bubbles. Keep it covered if you are standing next to it.

Make a tadka by heating the ghee in a smaller pan, add the chopped green chilly, chopped ginger and deghi mirch and pour over the cooked saag. Serve immediately with makki ki roti.

This is a refreshingly simple and clean flavoured recipe of sarson ka saag. I would have liked some garlic in it as I feel garlic makes all greens more palatable and prevents flatulence as well. I also missed the white butter I love in my sarson ka saag. But to tell the truth, the saag is really tasty in a different way. Arvind liked it more than me.

I cooked one more version of sarson ka saag, using some bathua and methi leaves as well but the spices were not added in this one too. The recipe is here..

ingredients
(makes about 4-5 cups of saag)
mustard greens with stems cleaned and chopped 400 gm
spinach with stems cleaned and chopped 200 gm
bathua cleaned and chopped 100 gm
methi leaves cleaned and chopped 100 gm
makki ka atta 2 tbsp
chopped garlic 2 tbsp
green chillies 3-4
chopped ginger 3 tbsp
salt to taste
ghee 1 tbsp
fresh cream or white butter to serve

preparation

Heat ghee in a kadhai and add the chopped garlic, ginger and green chillies in that order and fry them till a bit pinkish brown. Add the chopped greens, salt to taste and cook till done, covered. No water is required if you cook the saag on low heat.

Liquidise when done. Serve hot with fresh cream or white butter.

I think I will be making this recipe more often as this is the one simpler recipe that I liked so much I finished it almost all by myself. That too without any roti with it.

I might cook some more saag till there is some more mustard greens in the market. Try these and let me know if these recipes worked for you.

Note that both these recipes are very different form each other in taste the first one has a nice kick of chilly and ginger heat while the second one is a mellow creaminess. Both recipes are like day and night and yet superbly and equally tasty.

Pickled red chillies is a favourite with many UP wallahs and we like it with daal chawal, with parathas and with just anything we are eating. Recently a dear friend loved it with her curd rice and then I also tried it that way, only to be charmed all over again by this humble traditional pickle that this laal mirch ka bharva achar is.

This recent tryst with one of my favourite pickles reminded me of a paneer curry I had at Shangri-La Hotel recently, the curry was cooked with a hint of the same red chilly pickle. I had planned to cook the curry with minced meat and now it was impossible to resist the recipe. We both loved this hot keema curry that had chillies of three types making the chilly flavours deep and potent. With a light raita and fluffy khameeri rotis this curry was just out of this world.

I make another keema curry with green chillies and loads of garlic and that one is totally a different thing. That lasun mirch wala keema is a creamy and mild curry with prominent aromas of garlic and chillies but this achari mirch wala keema is hot and robust. Using ghee for cooking makes it tastier as flavours are well rounded up with a bit of fat. I used just a tbsp of ghee but even that makes a good difference.

ingredients..
(serves 2-3)
mutton mince (keema) 300 gm
finely diced onions 1/2 cup
chopped garlic 2 tbsp
broken dry red chillies (choose hot or mild, or skip if you can;t handle too hot) 2-3
minced ginger 1 tbsp
everyday curry powder 2 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
ghee 1 tbsp
salt to taste (3/4 tsp)
fresh red chillies (pickling variety) 2
hung curd 2 tbsp
bharva mirch ka achar 1 inch piece

procedure

Heat the ghee in a pan (kadhai) and tip in the chopped ginger and garlic. Fry these till they get aromatic and then add the chopped onion, fry them too till they are pinkish brown.

Add the spice powders and mix them well. Add the mutton mince (the keema), salt and stir fry till the keema gets almost cooked. It takes about 10-12 minutes.

Half length wise, deseed and slice the fresh red chillies and add to the cooking mixture. Add the hung curd and mix well. Bhuno (stir fry) till the mixture gets almost dry, it takes about 5 minutes.

Add 1/2 cup of water, cover and simmer the curry for 5 minutes. Adjust consistency by adding a little more water of required, check seasoning and serve hot.

It doesn't need any garnish but you can use slivered bell peppers if you wish. Even chopped coriander greens are not required but you can add them for another dimension in flavours.

You can add a little magaz paste (melon seeds paste) to this curry if you want it a bit creamy and the heat milder. Magaz paste also increases the volume of the curry so much so that an added 2-3 tbsp of magaz paste will result in an extra cup of the curry with same ingredients.

You might like to have a squirt of lime juice if you are not having any raita with this curry. Otherwise this curry just needs a good fluffy khameeri roti or a soft roomali roti and a light cucumber raita or may be a raw tomato salsa type salad.

We have such diverse culture of cuisines, some foods we eat have had a history deeply rooted in our own land and some others came travelling across the mountains or sailing across oceans. All our regional foods have had influences from the travelers and traders coming to India and many new ingredients have been added to our repertoire of vegetables and fruits. So the cuisine of the land kept getting richer and richer as as we welcomed the potatoes and tomatoes of the world with open arms. The chillies of various hues and shapes became as Indian as the black peppers. I love the way we have so many shades of foods and cuisines spread lavishly all over our country. We make new discoveries now and then, the beauty of living in abundance.

Parsi food was a new discovery of sorts amidst the quirky decor and witty one liners strewn all over a quaint little place called Soda bottle opener wala. Yes even the name of a restaurant is quirky, just like the Parsis are.

I have not known Parsi food much, I wish I had known the nuances better. I have tried a few recipes from the magazines I have been rummaging since ages. Even before internet there were these magazines and I learnt the lagan nu custard, popatji (a Parsi version of small fried pancakes of Dutch origin called Poffertjes), patrani machhi and salli boti. My Parsi repertoire was limited to these and I never questioned myself on how authentic Parsi my dishes tasted as I have never had them in a Parsi household.

And then I heard of this new restaurant in Cyberhub named as Sodabottleopenerwala, an enterprise of the famous restaurateur A.D. Singh and the menu conceptualized by Chef Sabyasachi Gorai. A Parsi restaurant that resonates with the Irani cafes of old Bombay, it was a much needed space to be filled in the Punjabi heartland. The reviews kept pouring in, I saw the pictures that friends shared and the place kept calling me. I was meaning to go there since the very beginning but something or the other kept me from it. It was Ruchira who suggested we meet there and the plan was made within minutes, Deeba reached early, I had to ask for directions and Cyberhub took our breath away by it's vibrant young crowd, an art exhibition going on and fancy eateries all around.

The menu cards are so quirky you would hold them for a while and smile wide.
Iranis don't feast with their eyes, but their nose. One of the 'statements' on the menu card says.

Did I tell you how we loved the food and stuffed ourselves to the gills. Literally. I felt as if I had known Parsi food for ever, easy on the palate, homely and served with so much warmth.

Raspberry soda was phenomenal, lightly sweet and tart drink with soda that includes the pulp and crunchy seeds of raspberry. They say 'Nothing comes between an Irani and his egg, except Raspberry'. No wonder :-)

The Masala Soda was good, the sweetest of the lot as expected, but good. The muddled Shikanjbin with crushed plums was wonderful. Good drinks to wash down the ample amount of food we had.

We tried the Goan Sausage Pao, the Kheema Pao, Tameta Papeta per Eeda, Aloo Aunty's Vegetable Cutlet, Bhendi Bazar Sheek Paratha and the Vada Pav. Each one was better than the other and even the chutneys and onion rings were perfect.

Aloo Aunty's Vegetable Cutlet was panko crusted mixed vegetable cutlet, one of the best vegetables cutlet that I have tasted, very good texture. The tamarind chutney served with it was perfect too.

The Vada Pao was just like we had at a Linking Road shop at Bombay, yummy to the core. The Keema Pao was lipsmackingly good. The keema subtly spiced and the Pao soft and spongy, FRESH. The portions are so suitable for my kind of eating, you can have 2 nibbles of bread with all the keema, the way I like it.

Tameta Pateta per Eeda is totally my kind of food, those who follow me on my facebook page, would know why. It felt like comfort food :-)

The Bhendi Bazar Sheek Paratha is yet another classic, though I don't like any roti of this kind now, but the taste and textures in this were something I would have loved 2 decades back. It reminded me of a few favourites from the past. This one thing I wont order when I go back to SBOW again but I know many who would be content with only this kind of sheek paratha.

The Parsi special Patra-ni Machhi was done using Basa fillets, small parcel of coconut soaked fish with flavours of coriander greens. Done perfectly I must say, though I like it with Pomfret or Bhetki fillets better. But Basa is becoming popular with Delhi folks as most of them don't like a fishy fish.

Nicely done, good flavours.

By now, I was eyeing the Berry pulao. Yes I was. It looked so good and the server told us to mix it well so the flavors seep into the rice, Ruchira mixed it well and we took several helpings of this delectable Berry pulao with boneless chicken.

One of the best pulaos that I have had. I want to recreate it at home definitely.

Oh I want to cook it next week. Can't wait for this berry pulao, or I might go to SBOW again. This is addictive stuff.

This Kolmi vada is a Prawns fritter that is nested within rings of onion, battered lightly and deep fried. The sinful indulgence that makes you feel guilty. I stopped myself at one, but it was done perfectly.

Salli Boti was a known flavour. This is the only dish that is made using mutton on bone as Arunava (Manager at SBOW) informed us and it does full justice.

I loved the way almost everything is served in baking pans and tins. It adds the feel of home cooked food, served in a homely manner. The only place I know that serves food in baking pans is The pizzeria at Banaras, that is in its own league.

The desserts were good too. The Five Star Brownie kept Ruchira amused. It was good indulgence of dark chocolate and bits of five star chocolate in it, oozing the salted caramel.

The Toblerone Mousse was good too. I am not too find of chocolate so took a bite from each. Both were well made.

I found the Mawa Cake really good. Might bake it myself sometime soon. A rich, slightly dense cake that is tastes great by itself. Would be a good accompaniment to tea or coffee. Loved the presentation, slightly quirky, totally classy I must add.

The reason I like all our traditional foods is, the food is real. Not factory produced uniform shapes of this and that assembled in a front kitchen that tastes boring even though the food is addictive sometimes, thanks to additives and taste enhancers. Not the case with real food served by passionate Chefs working in real kitchens. This was the thought when I dug into the Tameta Papeta per Eeda and found it as good as home cooked. And the story unfolded into even better flavours, you witnessed it with me right now.

It really felt like sitting with a Parsi family and the icing on the cake was when Anahita Dhondy suggested a lemongrass ginger brewed tea to wash down the crumbs of Mawa Cake. It was just perfect.

The only thing I would never order is that stupid Falooda. I hate falooda even though it has one of my favourite things in it. The subza seeds. Subza seeds (Basil seeds) are wasted in Falooda I feel.

Okay I wont crib about falooda now. I didn't take a sip from the glass and I loved loved every single thing we tried at SBOW. That is incredible by any means

I never knew Lemongrass and ginger brewed tea was a staple in Parsi Households. It has been my favourite for ages. I told you I felt at home, I felt like eating in a Parsi household.

Wanted to tell you one more thing, I always get the idea about an eatery by the kind of people it attracts, that is when we travel and look for places to eat. Here at Soda Bottle Openerwala you would see many Parsis frequenting the place, many of them senior citizens and that makes you trust the place even more.

I was talking about history that is deeply rooted in the food culture. Sodabottleopenerwala keeps the promise.

Holi is the spring festival in the North India, the festival of colours as it was meant to be. Spring colours were brought into homes, flowers of Palash or Tesu (Butea monosperma), Marigold, Rose petals and Red Sandal wood were used for spraying on each other, I wish I lived in the older times. The chemical colors and the rowdy hooligan nature of this festival puts me off since childhood. I would most preferably stay at home and indulge in some festive foods. Gujhia was always a favourite and now I make a fried version of gujhia and a baked version of gujhia too. This year I have prepared for a fruity stuffing for my gujhia, will share that soon.

Thandai is synonymous with holi and Banaras, the Cannabis leaves are used in this drink for this occasion as this is the season for Bhang (cannabis) drinks.. Falgun that is :-)
And I already had a really nice thandai at Oxford book store, it was bhang free for obvious reasons, will make my own thandai tomorrow may be.

Want to tell you how may garden is full of spring colors as well. Here are a few pictures..

Dahi vada and malpua was another must do on holi, I still try and make these as these are the only ways we feel the festivity. We make fresh hot malpuas for breakfast on the day of holi and I am yet to post the recipe here. I promise to get that done this time around. I have posted a syrupy version of malpua but the deep fried version of malpua is more like doughnuts without the holes. The recipe is definitely coming here very soon.

I made the kanji vada, deep fried urad daal (skinned black lentil) fritters soaked in a fermented drink called kanji. These are so yummy people are known to crave for them when kanji is not available, though one can make kanji easily at home. Just dip the small vadas in the kanji and refrigerate for a day, it stays well for a week if refrigerated.

To make the vadas you have to follow the recipe for plain dahi vadas. Soak skinned urad daal (black lentils) overnight, drain the water and blend it into a smooth paste. Whip the paste into a smooth and light batter. Now drop small spoonfuls in hot oil and deep fry on medium heat. Drain and dunk all vadas in the prepared kanji. Refrigerate and serve as required.

For dahi vadas I used the same batter, just the vadas are made with a hole. These vadas have to be soaked in hot water for 2 hours, drain and then dip them all in whipped yogurt mixed with seasoning.

Serve chilled topped with whatever you like.

Dahi vada recipe has been posted long back. I make different version many a times, going back to my grandmother's recipe of ginger and black cardamom spiced dahi vadas sometimes. This dahi vada is a plain vada made without any seasoning in the batter, the same batter as the kanji vada as mentioned.

The dahi (yogurt) is lightly spiced with salt, pepper, roasted cumin powder and mint powder. A generous sprinkling of coriander greens, some pomegranate seeds and sonth ki chutney is all it requires. One can add a few more ingredients like crushed papdi, chopped onions, green chutney etc and convert it into a dahi vada chaat.

The soaked dahi vadas in yogurt mix can be refrigerated for 2 days. If you keep them dry it can be refrigerated well for a week. Just soak them in hot water till soft, drain and soak them in whipped yogurt mix.

This season I was lucky to witness holi celebration at the Oxford Book Store at Connaught place where a team from The Park was doing a live demonstration of a few holi recipes. They made pistachio and almond thandai, gujhia, namkeen pare and a really nice gulab ki kheer.

It was wonderful to witness colours of holi in a bookshop. I loved the gulab ki kheer the most. Thandai was really good too with rich green colour of pistachios.

Bringing more holi recipes really soon. I am focusing on the malpua as that is one of my childhood favourites and I make it just once a year. Wishing you all the happy colours of spring, more happiness more peace. Stay away from chemical colours and chemically flavoured foods.

Stay tuned for more recipes here..

Hare chane ki gujhia is not a new recipe invented by me, I have tasted it in Banaras around holi festivities many a times. Hara chana (tender green garbanzo beans) is a seasonal delight around this time of the year and many enterprising home cooks use it in many different ways. I have had burfis, halwas, gujhia and stuffed parathas made with hara chana apart from the nimona, ghugni and alu chane ki subzi. I have known some really creative home cooks and more importantly, I have remembered all that I have had as good food in the past. I remember how people would be scared to eat any green gujhia on the occasion of holi fearing it might be laced with bhang. Some of those really were. You never knew. You can disguise bhang in hare chane ki gujhia well and no one would get to know.

Incidentally, hara chana is also called 'hora' or 'horha' in the Hindi heartland and the name is linked to 'hori' which is the vernacular name of the festival holi. The whole mature shrubs of chickpeas are fired along with the 'holika dahan' on the eve of holi and the char grilled chickpeas are distributed as prasad. So 'hora' is the much loved produce related closely with 'hori', a gujhia made using this produce is not much of a surprise.

This time when I was feeling lazy about making gujhia and kept procrastinating till the last day, the thought of colourful gujhia made me get going with the ingredients. I made instant khoya from milk powder in microwave, mixed a bit of grated beetroots to the regular nuts, raisins and khoya mixture to make a red gujhia stuffing. And then I made use of the hara chana to make a green stuffing as well. It was fun to make people keep guessing about the stuffing as we had all gathered at my brother's place for holi. My nieces had a good time gobbling up more gujhias that had holi colours in them. Or so they thought.

For the red gujhia, 1/2 cup of grated beetroot was sauteed in a tsp of ghee and then added to 300 gm khoya and more chopped nuts and raisins, grated dry coconut etc to make the regular gujhia stuffing. Rest of the procedure was the same as these gujhia. The only change I did in the beetroot stuffing is, I changed the cardamom flavouring in usual gujhia to a combination of nutmeg, clove and cinnamon flavours. These spices complemented the beets flavours really well.

For the green gujhia I made a coarse paste of 250 gm of hara chana, sauteed it with 1 tbsp ghee till it becomes a little dry and darker green. Doing it on low flame in a thick base kadhai helps in getting the right consistency in about 10 minutes. Then I added 1 cup of fine grated dry coconut (kopra), 3/4 cup of sugar and mixed everything well. Cardamom powder and finely chopped pistachios were added for flavours. The remaining procedure of the pastry dough, rolling and stuffing the gujhia was the same as this recipe.

And I also baked some gujhia this time too, I actually made gujhia 3 times this season, but all of them got over really quickly. My dad loved the baked ones I made without any added sugar. The pastry dough was kneaded using fresh malai and the total fat content was minimal and yet a nice rich taste in the final baked gujhia. Even I liked those as I never enjoy having too much sugar, the natural sweetness of khoya is enough for my taste buds. Try doing that next time you make gujhias and see how you like them.

Sometimes I can't decide which part of India I would like to settle down to. Apart from climatic conditions and greenery, local cuisine the other thing that makes the deal for me. Sometimes I feel like Himachal and sometimes Coorg. Tamilnadu and Kerala lure me to no ends, Rajasthan keep inviting in a musical way. Padharo mhare des :-)

Only if wishes had wings. Ohh I might end up being a nomad visiting all the places for ever and enjoying everything to my contentment. That would be bliss.

What if you get great regional foods from all over India under one roof? That too in a bustling mall where you have gone for shopping. There is one place you might like to make plans just for the food. If you are a regional food junkie. From Laal Maas and Lachha Paratha to Lucknow ki Nihari to Mangalorean Mutton Sukka and Akki Rotti. I loved most of the food from all over the country at Veda Cafe, DLF Promenade, Vasant Kunj sometime ago. The cafe opened it's doors to patrons in mid February and I could see bustling crowd on a weekend night. The manager Mr. Sarat introduced the menu to us and helped us choose from the vast array of cuisines and dishes on the menu. The cafe has a liquor licence and serves alcohol, our adjacent table was occupied by a young couple enjoying their beer bucket with carefully chosen food, they were already regulars it felt like.

I liked a virgin Sangria in two variations, was nice. I liked the Kokum Senorita that I ordered later, there are many more virgin cocktails for everyone. Palak Patta Chaat is a Veda specialty and we had liked it at Veda at CP as well. The same chaat has been recreated here at Veda Cafe too.

I loved the menu which is crafted like a table calender, the opposite page bearing beautiful pictures of vegetables, spices and random street objects. The same kind of ethnic themed picture frames are there all over the walls of the cafe. Beautiful things from far ends of the country have been displayed well.

The soups we ordered were a Pineapple soup and a Chicken Shorba. Pineapple soup was completely mind blowing for me, Arvind liked the Chicken shorba better. Food and flavours are received differently by different people. Here is the proof.

The tikkas were good, the sigdi (small barbecue stove or charcoal grill) Chicken Tikka was nice, the charcoal grill Mutton Burra was a bit over spiced for us. Amritsari Fish n Chips platter was good, more suited for Delhi folks as they like Basa fillets better than any other local fish. I like the way just a thin layer of besan coating was there on the fish, just the way I like Amritsari Macchi. I would have liked some real river fish for this though.

Avoid the Mixed Fruit Seekh Kabab, it didn't work for me.

What I loved and would recommend to be tasted at least once, is the Rajasthani Mirchi Paneer served with a herb laced tandoori paratha. Very interesting flavours with notes of whole coriander, mild green chilly and coarsely pounded garam masala. The Laal Maas was nice too, served with lachha paratha, well made. I was tasting a Mangalorean Mutton Sukka and Akki Rotti for the first time and loved it. Try that for sure if you happen to go there. Pesarettu was well made and the chutneys were good too. I might go there just for having a pesarettu sometime.

We were stuffed trying out all these and skipped desserts. Might try something next time I go there. I kept thinking what all I would like to recreate at home from the Veda Cafe menu. Pineapple soup and Rajasthani mirchi paneer were two such dishes that stood out. Sharing the paneer recipe here.

Since I keep cooking paneer curries a lot, more for an easy dinner or lunch box curry or salad for the husband, I planned making this Rajasthani mirchi paneer for a change. Rajasthani chillies are known to be flavourful but mild. The fat green chillies are used to make mirchi pakodas and are used for green chilly pickles, for bharva mirchi (stuffed green chillies with various stuffings) and for curries as well.

Rajasthan curries are mostly jain recipes, cooked without onion and garlic, the thickening agent is mostly yogurt and spicing is robust, with prominent hints of coriander seeds. I made a light version of this mirchi paneer and the recipe takes just 15 minutes to prepare.

ingredients..
3-4 servings, depending on what side dishes are served with it)

paneer cubed 200 gm
large ripe tomatoes cubed 1 cup
minced ginger root 1 tbsp
dry whole red chillies 6
fresh red chillies (mild variety) sliced 2 tbsp
freshly crushed coriander seeds 1 tbsp
everyday curry powder 2tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
yogurt 1/4 cup
fresh cream 1 tbsp (optional)
salt to taste
ghee 2 tsp
chopped green coriander leaves and stems 1/4 cup

procedure

Heat ghee in a pan (kadhai preferably) and tip in the whole dry red chillies, minced ginger and crushed coriander seeds in that order. Let them sizzle for a few seconds before adding the tomatoes. Add salt and fry till the tomatoes turn pulpy.

Add the powdered spices, fry well till the mixture looks glossy. Add the yogurt and fry again till it is incorporated well.

Add the paneer cubes and sliced fresh red chillies, mix the fresh cream as well if using and just fold in everything till the paneer gets coated well. Sprinkle chopped coriander greens and serve hot with roti or naan.

You can use any mild hot chilly available in your part of the world or a good mix of all of them. Adding just the regular hot dry red chillies and a mix of bell peppers would work well too. I love the way chillies lend their aromatic flavours to the curry when they are not too hot. The flavours are received better by the palate in the absence of heat actually. There was a time I used to love really hot curries, now I like milder chilly heat. Though I can tolerate quite hot curries.

This one can be made as hot as you wish. Let me know whenever you try this Rajasthani mirchi paneer curry. It is definitely a nice variation of everyday paneer for vegetarians.

It was a completely new bouquet of aromas that hit my senses as soon as I opened a packet of Koli masala given to me by Anita. The creator of this Koli masala blend is Anjali Koli and she had sent packets of this masala for Anita and me. That was long time ago and I used the masala first for a shrimp curry and then a liver curry that I mostly cook for dinner. I was pleased by the results and experimented with the spice blend a bit more, asked Anjali more about the recipes she uses it for and got to know she is a vegetarian. She sent me another large pack of Koli masala that would last me another 6 months or so even after sharing some with a friend.

After talking to Anjali, I started using this Koli masala for vegetables more and was never disappointed. It is a good change for our palate so used to everyday curry powder and the more aromatic garam masala. There is a distinct whiff of patharphool or dagad phool or Chhadeela (the lichen Parmelia perlata) and star anise in this spice blend and chilly peppers are also included so I don't add any chilly powder in the curries when I use it.

One of the most surprisingly good results I got from Moongrey (Rat tailed radish) ki subzi. So much so that I would always want moongrey cooked with Koli masala now, though I like the rat tailed radish salads and moongrey stir fry that I always do. Here is the simple recipe with moongrey and potatoes.

moongrey ki subzi with koli masala...

ingredients..
cleaned and chopped moongrey (rat tailed radish or radish fruits) 2 cups
boiled, cooled, peeled and cubed potatoes 1 cup
chopped tomatoes 3/4 cup
ginger and garlic 1 tsp each
Koli masala 1 tbsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
cumin powder 1 tsp
mustard oil 1 tbsp
salt to taste

preparation...

Heat mustard oil and tip in the ginger and garlic. Fry till fragrant. Dissolve the powdered spices in 2 tbsp water and pour into the pan, fry till aromatic, for a minute approximately.

Add the potato cubes, fry for about 2 minutes stirring all the while on medium heat.

Add the tomatoes and salt and cook till mushy.

Add the moongrey and keep stirring the mix on low flame till the delicate radish fruits get cooked and soft. Serve hot or warm with roti or daal chawal meals.

This mutton liver fry was the most frequent during winter days, mostly cooked for dinner along with millet rotis. It used to be a comforting warming meal, but now as it has gotten so hot here in Delhi, I just fry the mutton liver with salt and pepper in a little ghee and serve with some parwal ka chokha or lauki ki subzi.

To make this mutton liver with Koli masala, Just cook the ginger garlic in mustard oil first, dissolve powdered spices in a little water and add. Cook briefly, add tomatoes, loads of dhaniya patta with stems and salt to taste and cook till mushy. Add liver and cook for about 20 minutes covered, stirring once in a while.

Another quick curry I do with Koli masala is the chickpeas and spinach curry. The Koli masala and tomatoes and cooked just like the liver curry, then I add the spinach and pressure cooked chickpeas. Cook this mix till the flavours blend. A very unusual chhole palak that goes well with either plain boiled rice or plain roti.

Interestingly, a few vegetables which the husband normally dislikes, were made using this Koli masala and he loved them. Bakla (fava beans) ki subzi is one acid test when trying a new spice blend. He loved this Bakla ki subzi with Koli masala. I normally cook bakla with potatoes and tomatoes and the everyday curry powder, have posted a really easy recipe of bakla here, this one with Koli masala was a nice twist.

ingredients
fava beans (bakla) 250 gm
potatoes cut into batons about 100 gm
sliced onions 50 gm (half a large onion)
chopped garlic 1 tbsp
sliced tomatoes 120 gm (one large ripe tomato)
koli masala 2 tsp
salt to taste
mustard oil 1 tbsp

procedure..

Remove stems and string the fava beans. Cut into halves if they are too large.

Heat mustard oil in a kadhai and tip in the chopped garlic and slice onions followed by batons of potato. Stir fry for about 2-3 minutes.

Add the fava beans and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the koli masala and mix well. Keep stirring for about a minute on low flame.

Add the sliced tomatoes and salt and keep stirring and cooking till the tomatoes get a bit mushy. Add half a cup of water, cover the pan and simmer for about 5 minutes or till the vegetables are cooked through.

Serve hot with roti and daal or even with plain boiled rice.

I cook bakla with slivers of potato sometimes, just with a tempering of green chillies and sliced garlic cloves. Essentially in mustard oil. I dunk everything at once in hot mustard oil along with salt to taste and cook them all on medium heat till garlic slices are browned well, potato slivers are nice and golden and bakla is cooked through. This time I sprinkled a little Koli masala and it tasted good. Just take care to cook the vegetables after adding spice blend well for a few seconds in this one.

Another try was with chopped green beans (French beans) and peas with tomatoes, with added paneer cubes. This one was a dry subzi made for Arvind's lunch box.

ingredients
chopped green beans 1 cup
green peas 1 cup
chopped tomatoes 1/2 cup
chopped garlic and ginger 1 tsp each
cubed paneer 100 gm (3/4 cup)
mustard oil 1 tbsp
Koli masala 1 tsp
black pepper powder 1/4 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
salt to taste

preparation

Heat mustard oil and tip in the ginger and garlic. Let them fry till fragrant. Add the tomatoes and salt and cook till mushy. Add the Koli masala, turmeric powder and pepper powder and cook for a few seconds.

Add the peas and chopped beans, cover and cook till done. Stir in between to coat them well with the spices.

Add paneer cubes, mix well and cook covered for a couple of minutes. Serve hot with roti or daal chawal or as desired.

Just take care to add the Koli masala at a stage when it needs a bit of frying or cooking at medium flame so the spice blend gets cooked well. It is a robustly flavoured spice blend and stays well in the curry, does not evaporate like aromatic gram masala. I found that most of the vegetables take on the flavours well, especially in the presence of tomatoes or tamarind.

The good thing is, you can buy the Koli masala at Anjali's website. The spices are milled under her supervision and I found the quality really good. I never buy or use any packaged spice blends but this one would be an exception. This is home made.

kathal ki biryani | Raw jackfruit biryani

Raw jack fruit is a meat substitute for vegetarians all over India. Kathal (jack fruit) was never a favourite vegetable when I was growing up. Just the kathal ka dopyaza was something I loved, sometimes the spicy versions of kathal ke kofte or a curry masquerading as mutton curry would be liked too. But I never really craved for kathal. So much so that I had cooked kathal only about 4 times in the last 6-7 years although it is available throughout the year. But then I saw a few kathal ki biryani recipes doing the rounds on fb groups and someone actually asked me to post my version of it.

Now truth be told, I had never had any kathal ki biryani in my life. And this girl from Bangalore would keep requesting me to post more kathal recipes as she loved them and wanted to cook. I brought a whole kathal once and turned lazy in the coming week, made kathal ka dopyaza first as that is my first choice, the remaining kathal got wasted. Yes. Sad.

But then as I kept thinking of kathal ki biryani, I picked up a fat slice of kathal on day from the subziwala and cleaned and chopped it almost immediately. Kathal ki biryani was planned for the next day, cooking was to be done early in the morning as I had planned to pack this 'biryani' to Arvind's lunch box as well. I thought it would taste like tahiri if not biryani and he anyway loves tahiri so it wont be a problem. I succeeded in making this kathal ki biryani in about 30 minutes, packed half of it for his lunch and half for myself. It was at my lunch time that I realised it actually was a good 'biryani'. Kathal is quite meaty and works well for biryani if treated well. Finally a biryani for vegetarians.

kathak (raw Jackfruit), how to slice and chop

I will tell you what do I mean by treating the kathal well. As I repeated the kathal ki biryani lunch box a few times and found out what way kathal tastes best in the biryani.

Just take care to chop the kathal in shreds, separating the seeds (saving it for a curry if the seeds are mature) if the kathal has any. The one I used had very soft seeds so I let them be. Remove the parchment like seed coat from each seed and reserve the fleshy and fibrous parts of the fruit. You would need to smear oil to your hands, the chopping board and the knife when you chop and peel kathal.

chopped kathal for biryani

Since I cooked this kathal ki biryani in the morning hurry hours, I worked out the shortest possible method for me. I am sure it would work for you too.

ingredients
kathal chopped like above 2 cups packed
basmati rice 1/2 cup
water 1 cup
tejpatta 2 leaves
whole black pepper corns 12
shahi jeera (caraway seeds) 1/2 tsp
cumin seeds 1 tsp
pathhar phool or chhadila (lichen spice)
garam masala (green cardamom, black cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and a little mace powdered together) 1 tsp
black pepper powder 1/2 tsp (optional)
whole red chillies 2
sliced onions 1 cup
ginger julienne 2 tbsp (or half as much, I like this biryani a bit hot)

As I mentioned I worked around a shortest possible method to cook this biryani, the fact that the kathal was chopped and refrigerated in advance helped. To make it quicker, I cooked the rice in microwave till the kathal was prepared in a pan of gas stove. Later both were mixed with light hand and microwaved again with a lid. This helped the rice look really separated and kathal stay meaty and not get mushy.

procedure

Wash the rice, add water to it along with the tejpatta and patthar phool. These two spices bring the biryani flavours really well, making kathal ki biryani taste a bit like mutton biryani, although there is a wee hint only, but pleasing to the senses. Cook the rice in microwave as you would normally cook rice, but take it out as soon as the rice is 3/4th done. Cover and reserve. By the time rice cooks to this stage, you will be half done with the kathal on the pan.

To prepare the kathal for biryani, heat ghee in a pan or kadhai and tip in the sliced onions, separated well so they fry nicely. Let the onions fry till they get golden brown. Take out half the onions and reserve, add whole spices, ginger julienne and chopped kathal to the remaining onions in the pan, one after the other, stirring in between. Add salt and cook covered for about 10 minutes, on low flame.

Add the powdered spices, stir and mix well and cook covered till the kathal is done. Take about another 10 minutes. You might need to sprinkle some water during cooking as kathal may get dry and can get charred.

Mix the cooked kathal and the 3/4th cooked rice. Cover and microwave for 5 minutes or till the rice looks fresh and done.

Serve hot with raita and some salad. I had it with one boiled egg and and fruits and vegetable mix raita. These pictures are of my lunch that I had after 4 hours of cooking the biryani. Reheated kathal ki biryani tastes great too.

I cooked this biryani in pressure cooker too one day, as usual in the morning hurry hours, thinking it might be good that way too. The taste was the same, the rice grains looked a bit thicker and the kathal pieces were a bit too soft for my taste. I wont make it in pressure cooker ever. The above method worked best every time I cooked it. Four times to be precise :-)

You already know I loved this kathal ki biryani although I have been vehemently opposing any vegetable pulav being called as biryani all this while. The pathhar ke phool (black stone flower) imparts a hint of meaty flavours to this biryani and this pulav/tahiri steps up a rung towards biryani :-)

Monji haak or monji haakh is a simple stew from Kashmir that makes beautiful use of the bulb and greens of knol khol (kohl rabi or ganth gobhi). The simplest of recipes can be the tastiest and this monji haak is one of those examples. I followed Anita's recipe a few years ago once and never cooked knol khol any other way. Even when we had loads of ganth gobhi growing in the garden, I would always cook this monji haak either plain or with boiled or poached eggs or with mutton. We love this simple and flavourful stew any which way. Another version of monji haak cooked with a little rice and a stew with knol khol and lotus stem, called monji nadru are slight variations of this recipe.

Ganth gobhi stands tall in the garden. We had about 40 of them this season.

Ganth gobhi (knol khol) leaves are so fragrant and delicious that it can't be wasted. Sadly, many people throw away the leaves and use the bulb part only. Even my gardener often discards the leaves but he has now understood that I like the leaves more than the bulb. I hardly throw any part of this vegetable if it is freshly plucked. only the hard woody base is peeled off if the knol khol is mature.

The curry is a simple recipe but I must let you know that following a simple recipe to the T is very important. As each ingredient and each little step in the recipe adds something to make it special, you can't afford to miss anything. Once you follow the recipe once and know how it turns out, you can make necessary changes to suit it to your taste.

ingredients for the monji haak
(serves 2-3, large portions)

Ganth gobhi (knol khol) 2-3 with leaves (about 600 gm)
green chillies broken 2-3 or to taste
hing 1 pinch
mustard oil 1 tbsp
salt to taste
water 2 cups

procedure

Peel the hard woody parts of the knol khol if it is mature or use it whole. Slice the bulb in half moons, the stems in one inch pieces and the leaves in large shreds. Keep aside.

Heat mustard oil in a pressure cooker pan (or a deep stockpot or kadhai), tip in the hing and add the slices of the vegetable. Toss and fry till you see few brownish patches on the margins. Add the stems and leaves at once, the green chillies and salt and toss and cook for a few minutes more.

Add the water and pressure cook for 5 minutes after the first whistle blows. Let it cool on it's own, open the lid and serve hot with plain boiled rice or as a side dish to any Indian meal.

You can adjust the consistency by adding more water or by reducing the water as per choice.

If cooking it in a stock pot or kadhai, cook covered till the leaves and slices are all thoroughly coked. It takes about 25-30 minutes or more if the ganth gobhi is mature.

To make mutton monji haak, boil 300 gm of mutton (with bone) in 500 ml water and salt to taste for a couple of hours in a stock pot, adding a little more water of required. Or pressure cook for 30 minutes. Keep aside.

Now follow the steps of cooking the ganth gobhi as above recipe of monji haak and instead of adding water, add the cooked mutton with the stock and cook again till the vegetable is cooked well. Serve as required.

We eat our meats in watery stews like this in summers and love the way it tastes so rich and yet so light on the tummy. I recently tried a lauki ka shorba with mutton after reading good reviews of a recipe from Rampur and that also became our favourite. The recipe will be shared soon.

Monji haak remains a favourite not just for being a simple stew or a patle rasse ki subzi as we call it, it is because I love the taste of ganth gobhi so much. It is a vegetable I look forward to. I still have a few left from our winter vegetables crop and they will also be cooked into this flavourful monji haak.

Did I tell you we both love this mutton monji haak as a stand alone dinner? Yes we do.

Somehow I never liked broccoli cooked like alu gobhi. Whenever I would cook broccoli like Indian curries using my everyday curry powder it would be a mundane kind of subzi not comparable to alu gobhi at all. But that was when we were experimenting with the new vegetable in the market a decade ago.

And then I stopped cooking broccoli the Indian way and loved it in all Chinese recipes I cook and have been using it in many many salads and as a steamed vegetables on the side of a meat or fish meal. I loved raw broccoli and lightly steamed broccoli in anything and everything.

But then some vegetables are such that you tend to experiment with those a lot. I made a pesto with broccoli that was just okay nothing great and was never repeated. The broccoli soups were loved by all and became a way to consume all the excess broccoli I would end up buying every week in winters.

On one of those weeks in winters when I had bought a lot of broccoli and was not able to finish them, I juts blanched a few of them and froze a huge bagful. Frozen broccoli can only be used in soups as we like it, and soups we don't normally have in summers here in India.

What to do with that huge bag of frozen broccoli then?

I decided to make a broccoli and paneer bhurji on the lines of palak paneer bhurji one fine day and it was such a good taste I finished all the stock frozen broccoli cooking this broccoli paneer bhurji.

But honestly speaking I did not have any ideas to use frozen broccoli for extremely hot summers as soups were not an option and we like only fresh broccoli otherwise, frozen florets loose their texture.

This broccoli paneer bhurji is the perfect answer for frozen or even stale and limp broccoli. Thankfully so.

ingredients

(2-3 servings)

paneer 150 gm

roughly minced broccoli (fresh, stale or frozen) 2 cups

fenugreek leaves (fresh or frozen, I used frozen) 1 cup

sliced red onions 1 cup

chopped garlic 1 tbsp

everyday curry powder 2 tsp

turmeric powder 1 tsp

red chilly powder 1/2 tsp

amchoor powder (dry raw mango powder) 1/2 tsp

salt to taste

mustard oil 1 tbsp

procedure

Heat the oil in a kadhai or pan and tip in the garlic first. Let it sizzle for a while and then add the sliced onions. Keep frying till the onions start getting caramelized.

Add the powdered spices except amchoor powder, mix well and let them cook for a minute. Add the minced broccoli and mix well, cook covered on medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Now add the chopped fenugreek leaves and the cubed paneer as well. Keep stirring and scrambling the paneer and greens in the pan as you cook. Within the next 2-3 minutes the bhurji will be ready.

Add amchoor powder and mix well. Serve as desired.

Broccoli and paneer bhurji is nowhere close to palak paneer bhurji, it is different but equally tasty. The caramelized onions impart a sweetness that balances the slight bitterness of fenugreek leaves and the broccoli adds body to these flavours. This was the first time I liked broccoli in an Indian spiced curry and I don't mind that the broccoli lost it's texture. We have to use frozen or stale broccoli sometimes and this is a good way to get a nutritious meal with that.

We loved it both with ragi roti and with plain boiled rice.

Are you trying this broccoli paneer bhurji? Let me know when you do.

Paneer and mushrooms are consumed quite frequently in my kitchen especially for the lunch box meals that Arvind takes every day. Something that stays tasty even when cold, retains flavours and is not messy to eat. I have served this stir fry to large gatherings too and have found that this is one of those recipes that never fail to impress. For a small serving the cooking time is just about 10 minutes.

This kind of achari stir fries are a great side dish with Indian meals of daal, rice, roti and bharta or salads. It can even be rolled up in a roti or stuffed in a sandwich for a quick meal. Suits me many a times.

ingredients
(2-3 servings)
cubed paneer 200 gm
halved or quartered button mushrooms 100 gm
quartered baby onions 100 gm
whole dry red chilly 1 or as per taste
slit green chilly for granish
turmeric powder 1 tsp
kashmiri chilly powder 1 tsp
crushed ajwain seeds 1/4 tsp
crushed nigella seeds 1/4 tsp
crushed fennel seeds 1/4 tsp
salt to taste
mustard oil 1 tbsp
lime juice 1 tsp

procedure

Make a paste of all the powdered spices in 3 tbsp of water and keep aside.

Heat oil in a kadhai and tip in the spice paste slowly. Let it cook till the oil separates, stirring occasionally for about a minute or so.

Now add the baby onions, mushrooms and paneer in that order and keep stirring it for a few minutes. The ingredients do not need much cooking but the spices should penetrate them, high heat and frequent stirring does the needful.

Finish with lime juice and slit green chillies, add coriander greens if using and serve hot or cold. This stir fry stays well at room temperature for a day and refrigerates well for a week or so.

I was reminded of this pyaz badiyon wali subzi when I was flipping through the pages of Vikas Khanna's book called Hymns from the Soil. There is a similar onion soup in the book that uses ginger and cumin for the base flavours, the simplicity of the onion soup and the way it looks brought my childhood back. This pyaz badiyon wali subzi was made during the hottest time in summers. Back then I did not realise but it was for a purpose, it was light to digest and tickled the taste buds that were overwhelmed with more and more mangoes. This curry was actually had like a soup (in large amounts) but along with whole wheat thin chapatis.

Badiyan (singular-badi) are sun dried lentil cakes made using urad daal (skinned black lentils) paste mixed with spices and grated ash gourd or chopped coriander greens. The aroma of these badiyan is really interesting as this is one of those umami flavours in Indian cuisine. These badiyan are shallow fried in mustard oil and added to curries to add flavours. In this case it is just sliced red onions and the badiyan made it really special.

The recipe is simple, but need precision as the specific taste has to be recreated. Onions are caramelised along with crushed badiyan and then the mix is cooked with loads of water. No spice or even turmeric is added and flavours come from the onions and the spices sun dried along with the badiyan. I shall try and make these badiyan and post a recipe soon.

ingredients
(2 portions)
sliced red onions 1.5 cups
crushed badiyan 2-3 tbsp or to taste
mustard oil 1 tbsp
broken dry red chilly one
cumin seeds 1 tsp
salt to taste

procedure

Heat the mustard oil and tip in the cumin seeds. Add the red chilly, the broken badiyan and sliced onions one after the other. Fry the onions to caramelise them slowly and the badiyan also get nicely roasted along.

Add salt and about 3 cups of water and let the curry cook on low flame for 15 minutes or a little more. Adjust consistency as desired and serve hot with thin chapatis and may be a sookhi mung daal. It makes the most divine meals in summer time.

I had it with besan wali roti and some raw salad on the side and was a content soul after having a hot meal that revived memories of my grandmother.

It will do the same to you if you belong to eastern UP or you parents have lived there. Such foods make their way into your home even if you have lived there just for a while.

My article about Gooler, the country fig or the Indian fig was published in Down to Earth magazine. I am posting the detailed version of the article, the magazine article was a downsized version of all the research I did with gooler and it's properties.

I remember my grandmother telling us bedtime stories and taking us to unknown lands of fantasy. Her stories involved birds, jungle animals, trees and their conversations and we grew up considering these ‘characters’ as our companions. One of the stories that stuck in my mind was when she told about Gooler ke phool ( Fig flowers) in a story, that these flowers are seen by rare lucky people and whoever is able to see Gooler ke phool finds a treasure or a lost kingdom. This story stayed with me in my childhood and I often enquired the wild fig trees around to find a flower. No wonder I could never be lucky, I came to know later when I studied inflorescences in my biology class much later. The small figs we saw on the trees were actually inflorescences (cluster of flowers) and this special type of closed inflorescence is called as Syconium. There are more reasons why I associate Gooler with my grandmother, she relished Gooler as food and introduced us with the ways it can be eaten.

In the last few years we have seen the fresh plump ripe figs appearing in the upmarket stores, the fruit being sold at a premium price as it is deemed exotic. These fresh figs are the Ficus carica species, this fleshy variety of figs is either imported or grown as exotic fruit only in a few places in India, one variety grown around Maharashtra is called 'Poona figs' (ref. Handbook of Indian Agriculture). This fruit variety is highly perishable and hence most of the produce is dehydrated to form discs that can be re hydrated and used as required. Many of us have been relishing these figs in the dehydrated form called sookhe anjeer, those flattened and dried sweet discs filled with crunchy seeds and chewy dry flesh. Many 'sugar free' desserts including the kulfi and ice creams use sookhe anjeer.

Most of us have forgotten the smaller, more common variety of figs that grows wild all over India and is seen on roadsides or along old buildings. This one is called cluster fig or country fig, Ficus racemosa is the small Indian fig that is equally nourishing as the fruit fig. Goolar is the more common name it is known as in north India. The fruits are loved by Macaques, Squirrels and most birds, particularly Barbets, Tree pies and Parakeets and that is how the seeds get dispersed and this fig variety propagates easily.

The last time I had the fortune of tasting Goolar ki subzi was a couple of years ago when I was visiting Banaras. The spicy meaty Goolar ki subzi has been a family favourite and my mother had cooked that for us. We miss Goolar here in Delhi though we see it growing around our colony. Goolar is a great shade tree, home to my favourite birds but the fruits were never accessible somehow, this time I asked the gardener to bring me some and he obliged. I cooked chokha and kababs first and then pickled a few for the first time. The pickle is doubly nourishing as it gets some probiotic flora along with the naturally occurring prebiotic fiber.

Considered as cooling, blood purifying, anti inflammatory and healing by Ayurveda practitioners, the raw fruits are valued as a tasty and healthy vegetable. The fruits contain tannins and the soluble and insoluble fiber found in the fruit is prebiotic in nature. That is the reason the raw fruit used as a vegetable was considered extremely good for stomach ailments. I remember my grandmother who lived a healthy and active 105 years, always brought some goolar whenever she had upset stomach. She would make goolar ka chokha mostly but she loved the spicy meaty curry made using goolar as well. People of her generation knew what to eat day to day ailments.

The goolar ka chokha is considered cooling during summer months, a raita mixed with buttermilk is cooling too and highly recommended for stomach upset caused due to amebeosis.

Interestingly, goolar was never cultivated as vegetable or fruit but the abundant bunches of fruits were foraged during harsh summers and beginning of monsoons when the green vegetables would become scarce in the olden days. Ripe fruits used to be plucked by children as they are quite attractive and aromatic, some children would eat the fruits but the taste is not as good, so most of the ripe fruit would get wasted.

Raw fruits are actually an inverted flower filled with stigma and stamens and hundreds of insects that pollinate this closed inflorescence called Syconium. These insects would complete their life cycle till the fruit is ripe and would escape leaving the ripe fruit empty. This is a great example of symbiosis between a fruit and insect.

To cook the raw goolar, one has to cut them in quarters, clean the interiors of all the fibrous floral parts and the insects and the fleshy envelope of the fruit will be parboiled and then either curried or mashed to make bharta or chokha.

Many vegetable vendors would collect the goolar from nearby jungles and sell them to earn some profit, there was always a demand for goolar as folks knew it is good for health. Even dehydrated raw goolarwould be stored, its powder was used with sugar candy to cure E. coli infection.

The fresh milky discharge (latex) from the leaves is considered healing for epidermal wounds when applied 3-4 times a day, it helps many kinds of infections of the skin (source). The enzyme ficin present in the fig latex is responsible for its anthelmintic activity and can be given with great benefit in worm infestations especially ascaris and tricharus types (source). Apart from the usage in traditional medicine, scientific studies indicate F. racemosa to posses various biological effects such as hepatoprotective, chemopreventive, antidiabetic, anti inflammatory, antipyretic, antitussive and antidiuretic (source).

Gooler ka chokha recipe

ingredients

1. cleaned, quartered and seed removed goolar 1.5 cup

2. finely diced onion 1/4 cup

3. minced garlic 1 tsp

4. minced green chilly 1/2 tsp or to taste

5. salt to taste

6. mustard oil 1 tsp

Procedure

1. Boil the chopped cleaned goolar in sufficient water till soft. Strain and reserve the gooler.

2. Mash with a fork or blend in blender and mix the other ingredients after blending.

3. Serve with khichdi, daal rice meals or as a side dish for any Indian meals.

Gooler ka Kabab recipe

ingredients

1. cleaned, chopped and seed removed gooler 1 cup

2. roasted chickpeas flour or sattu 2 tbsp

3. minced ginger, garlic and green chillies 1 tsp each

4. garam masala 1 tsp

5. chopped coriander and mint greens 1/2 cup

6. salt to taste

7. ghee to shallow fry

procedure

1. Boil the cleaned gooler in sufficient water till soft, drain and cool.

2. Mash with other ingredients except ghee to make a dough like mixture.

3. Shape lime sized balls and flatten them between the palm. Arrange to be shallow fried in batches.

4. Shallow fry using ghee or any oil of choice. Serve hot with green chutney or tamarind chutney.

Gooler pickle recipe

ingredients

1. cleaned and chopped gooler 1 cup

2. white vinegar (preferably with mother) 1/2 cup

3. salt 1 tbsp

4. chopped green chillies 1/4 cup

5. crushed mustard seeds 2 tsp

To make the pickle, boil the cleaned gooler till soft, drain the water and let the gooler cool down. Then mix everything together and store in a sterile glass jar. The pickle is ready to eat in 3-4 hours and keeps well for a month or so.

Kundru is the Ivy gourd, Tendli or Tindora in different parts of India. It is one of those convenient vegetables that don't need peeling so the preparation time is really suitable for most urban cooks. Just rinse the kundru and slice them, it cooks faster than many vegetables unless you want to change the texture. I like it with a bite so almost half cooked is good for me. Kundru has great nutritional value too, read it all here.

Everyday subzis cannot be simpler than this. Kundru ki subzi is not a very welcome dish in most families but I have always loved this slightly sour little gourd. The most frequently made stir fry with ivy gourds was this kundru ki lasuni bhujia that we always love with our daal chawal meals. This recipe with coconut was introduced to me by a senior in my research days. She used to bring it in her lunch box and we used to share our food, not to mention that I always loved whatever she brought just because it smelled of sesame oil and had loads of coconut in it always.

After so many years when I started making this kundru with coconut and southern spices, I had very little memory of what I tasted back then so I resorted to this quick stir fry with ready made sambar masala. It didn't disappoint me at all.

ingredients
(2 servings)
sliced kundru 1.5 cup (250 gm)
sliced shallots (or baby onions) 100 gm or 3/4 cup
curry patta about 12 strings or a generous handful
grated fresh coconut 2 tbsp (I used frozen)
sambar powder 1 tbsp
salt to taste
sesame oil 1 tbsp

procedure

Heat the sesame oil in a kadhai. Preferably cast iron kadhai or a thick base pan would be good. Tip in the curry patta as soon as the oil gets hot, followed immediately by onions and sliced kundru.

Add salt and keep tossing the vegetables, lower the heat after a couple of minutes and keep cooking for about 5-8 minutes or till the kundru gets cooked and the onions get nicely caramelized.

Now add the sambar powder and the grated coconut, stir and cook for a couple of minutes and take the pan off the stove. Serve hot or at room temperature, this stir fry tasted great any way.

This is a good subzi for lunch box and keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days.

Yard long beans or field beans are also called as Chinese long beans. In India it is called as Lobiya, Barbati, Boda, Bodi etc in different languages. There are many more names in other languages you can see here. In north India it is a summer season bean along with Guar (cluster beans).

I find these beans quite easy to work with. Just snap the ends and gather a bundle together and shop them all in whatever size you want. I remember my grandmother and mom both used to snap the beans in small bits by hands, one by one while talking to each other or watching TV. It used to take a long time and somehow when I started cooking lost interest in lobiya. But then we planted some lobiya in our garden one season and a beautiful crop made me love this vegetable once again.
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I remember the first time I had cooked it for a few vegetarian guests from Arvind's family and I was clueless how to cook it without onion and garlic as these were elderly people who didn't eat any onion and garlic. In such times I always thought of how the kachori walas of Banaras cooked the simple jain style subzi they served and followed my instincts, the result was always encouraging. That day too those old people praised the curry so much I almost thought it was because of the garden fresh beans. Later when I recreated the recipe even I loved it and that became my favourite way to cook lobiya. Will share that recipe sometime soon.

This alu lobiya with amritsari vadiyan is another favourite of mine. Vadiyan (plural) are sun dried spice lentil cakes that are made in the shape of small cookies. The vadiyan impart the flavours of spices and a very distinct flavour of the dehydrated lentil paste that I consider Indian Umami. It livens up any curry in my opinion and I often crave for it.

I have never tried making vadiyan of my own because it takes some time for a few days to prepare the spices and lentils and then shape them on a sheet and then sun dry them for a week or so. But I am planning to do so some time. I buy them from Rupak stores and sometimes my mum gifts me some of her home made stock. These are from Rupak and look crushed. I prefer using them crushed so it doesn;t matter if they are not whole.

Lobiya is chopped like this. I often store it in a ziplock bag for a couple of days if my maid has chopped too many vegetables for my comfort.

We don;t use any spices in any curry that uses vadiyan. The spices in the vadiyan is enough to spice up the curry and bring an unmistakable Umami flavour in the curry.

ingredients

chopped lobiya 2 cups
boiled, cooled and cubed potatoes (with skin) 3/4 cup
sliced onions 1/2 cup
crushed vadiyan 2 tbsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
chopped dhaniya patta 1/4 cup
salt to taste
mustard oil or ghee 1.5 tbsp

procedure

Heat the oil in a kadhai and tip in the vadiyan. Fry till they become aromatic. My mom used to take the fried vadiyan out and proceed with the vegetables but I let them be in the kadhai as I add on the vegetables.

Add the sliced onions as soon as the vadiyan get fragrant. Fry till the onions get a bit caramelized. Add the chopped lobiya and potatoes and fry them all for about 4-5 minutes.

Add turmeric powder and mix well. Add 2 cups of water, mix well and cover the kadhai to simmer the curry for about 10 minutes. Check once, mash some of the potatoes and let it come to a desired consistency. Some people like to add a little tomato puree at this time but I prefer it without the tomatoes.

Add chopped dhaniya patta and serve hot or even at room temperature. I summers we don;t care about hot food.

The vadiyan in the curry soak the water and get softer. The curry gets a really unique flavour due to vadiyan, you have to eat it to believe it. See this pyaz vadiyon ki subzi and you would know how only the vadiyan are capable to make a curry flavourful.

honey chilly sweet potato finger chips : baked finger chips

Lasun mirch wala keema | a mutton mince curry with chilly and garlic

hara chana, green gram or tender green garbanzo beans | a subzi, a salad and a tea time snack with hara hana

Dawat-e-Awadh ; some comforting flavours from the fine cuisine

harey chane ka halwa | an unusual dessert with tender green garbanzo beans

easy way to make makki ki roti and a new version of sarson ka saag

achari mirch wala keema | minced meat curry with pickled (stuffed) red chillies

Soda Bottle Opener Wala, the Irani cafe in NCR and my tryst with Parsi food

bring the colours to your food this holi : kanji vada, dahi vada, thandai and gujhia for the spring festival holi

hare chane ki gujhia, chukandar wali gujhia and more colours in my food this holi...

food from diverse Indian states, all in one place and recipe of Rajasthani mirchi wala paneer

Koli masala : a robust blend of spices and a few curries with it...

Kathal ki biryani | Jack fruit mock meat biryani

monji haak from Kashmir and mutton monji haak to make it non vegetarian : ganth gobhi ki kashmiri subzi

broccoli paneer bhurji | a broccoli recipe with Indian curry spices

achari paneer and mushrooms | paneer and mushrooms stir fried with baby onions in Indian pickling spices

pyaz badiyon wali subzi | onion soup with 'sun dried lentil cakes' | a traditional summer curry from UP

Gooler, the country fig: a medicinal fruit that can be cooked in many ways | gooler ka chokha and other recipes

everyday subzi: kundru pyaz nariyal ki subzi | ivy gourd stir fry with shallots, coconut and curry patta in sambar masala

everyday subzi: aloo lobiya aur amritsari vadiyon ki subzi | a curry with yard long beans, potatoes and sun dried spiced lentil cakes