Poached Egg Curry

Egg Poached in Tomato Sauce

One of my friends made egg poached in tomato sauce. I tried it once but was not sure if I liked the texture. I made a smooth sauce this time and it turned out to be nice. I am not a fan of poached egg but this is not quite the same as the regular ones. These can be eaten with rice or rotis. Use a flat bottomed dish to allow space for eggs to poach. I noticed that adding too much water to the mixture does not help as it becomes even more watery after cooking. Here is the recipe...

2 onions, chopped

1 tin tomatoes (about 3-4 tomatoes)

1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste

1 teaspoon chilly powder

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 heaped teaspoon egg roast masala (substitute with mixture of garam masala and fennel powder)

Cooking oil

Turmeric powder

4-5 eggs

Salt to taste

Heat some oil in a flat bottomed dish and add the onions and ginger garlic paste. Add green chillies if desired.

Once onion begin to change colour, add the tomatoes and cook until they begin to reduce and raw smell goes

Grind this to a fine paste in a blender or use a hand blender and bring back to pan. Add all spice powders and salt and bring to boil and allow raw smell to go

 Now reduce the heat and break each egg into the mixture giving room for each of them to get cooked. Cook covered eggs are done or until how wobbly you like poached eggs to be.

Serve

Mushroom Methi Curry

Mushroom Methi Curry

Methi is one of those greens I absolutely love. Although it is suppose to be bitter, there are only a very few instances when I found it bitter. I think it is down to how it is prepared. I absolutely love the aroma and flavour it adds to a dish. This time around I tried to make a slightly rich gravy and combined methi with mushrooms. I was such a delightful dish, I was hoping no one saw me licking the saucepan! I have added melon seeds to this dish in the past but in a rush and lack of concentration, did not cook them enough. So, try not to make that mistake else you will get bits of the seeds while chewing and that is not quite pleasant.  Here is the recipe…

1 pack mushrooms (I used btton mushrooms and halved them)

1 onion, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

2 green chillies, chopped

1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste

1 tablespoon melon seeds or use poppy seeds soaked for about 10 minutes in hot water

4-5 cashew nuts

1 teaspoon chilly powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1 bunch methi leaves

Turmeric powder

Cooking oil or butter

Heat some oil and add the onions, ginger garlic paste and green chillies and fry until onions soften

 

Add the tomatoes, melon seeds, cashew nuts and some water and cook until all ingredients are well cooked, especially the seeds must have softened

Cool and grind this to paste

Heat the pan and add oil and the mushrooms and in a couple of minutes add the methi. Cook until methi is almost done and mushrooms soften

Add the ground paste, turmeric powder, chilly powder, cumin and coriander powder, salt to taste and some water and bring to boil. Simmer until desired consistency is achieved

Serve hot with rice or naan or and Indian bread

Gatta Curry

Gatta Curry

Gatta is suppose to be a Rajasthani preparation and this recipe is based on Vah chef's version. I have posted gatta kadhi and gatta pulav in the past. In both cases I chose not to fry the gattas although most recipes suggest so. In this recipe, I made the gattas slightly differently. Addition of coarsely ground coriander seeds and roasting it in the oven before adding to gravy are the key differences. The gattas are quite nutritious as they are made of chickpea flour, a good source of protein. I served this with corn methi rice and it was very yummy.

For gatta:

1 cup besan

1 tablespoon coriander seeds, roasted and coarsely crushed

Salt to taste

½ teaspoon chilly powder

Turmeric powder

½ teaspoon oil

2 teaspoons yogurt

For gravy

1 onion, finely chopped

1 cup yogurt

Turmeric powder

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

½ teaspoon chilly powder

Asafoetida

2 green chillies, slit

½ teaspoon coriander powder

Cooking oil

To make the gatta

Mix together all ingredients to make a stiff dough, use water as needed

Divide into three and roll into cylinders and dump this in boiling water. Make sure the water is already boiling. The gattas will be done when they begin to float

Take them out of the water and cool them. Slice them, about 1/2 centimeter wide. You could use the gattas straight away or bake it in the oven or deep fry it (this is how I believe it is traditionally done)

I drizzled it with little oil and baked it at 200degC for about 20 minutes, until it becomes slightly crisp

For the curry:

Heat some oil and add cumin seeds. Once it browns, add the onions and cook until it just changes colour

Mix together yogurt, turmeric powder, chilly powder, coriander powder and asafoetida

Add this mixture to the onion and allow to boil lightly

Add salt and the gattas and simmer for a few minutes. You may need to add some water

Serve with rice

Peas Masala

Peas Masala

The scene in my house around meal time has changed now. Earlier, my husband would be surprised by many things I make and I would normally decide the menu myself. Off late though, I cannot think much of what I want to make and more importantly I do not know what he fancies eating. I do hate wasting food so under strict orders he now tells me what he would like to eat and like in a restaurant, I tell him if I can make it or not. Anway, one evening his choice of side dish was peas masala, which is not particularly my favourite as I cannot just have peas alone, it needs to be with cauliflower or paneer or potato. I then decided to give the peas masala a twist and the result was the dish was polished off. Some may find this a touch sweet due to the peas and coconut milk combination but it worked for me. Here is a simple dish that can brighten a simple meal...

2 cups peas

1 onion, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

2 green chillies, chopped

2 dry red chillies

2 tablespoon coriander seeds

Salt to taste

Turmeric powder

Cooking oil

2 pinch garam masala

½ sachet creamed coconut or ½ cup coconut milk

Inch long ginger, chopped

Heat some oil and fry the onions, green chilly and ginger

Add the tomatoes once onions are soft and cook until tomatoes become mushy

Roast the coriander seeds and dry red chillies in a few drops of oil until aromatic. Cool and grind together with onion mixture to a fine paste

Boil the peas in a sauce pan until almost cooked

Add the ground mixture, add little water and bring to boil

Add some turmeric powder, garam masala, salt and simmer and add the coconut cream and simmer for about 5 minutes

Serve hot with rice or any bread

Malai Methi Gobi

Malai Methi Gobi

Gravies are an important part of my menu especially because my husband does not like the dry subjis with rotis etc. Making delicious and healthy gravies without monotony is a challenge I like to take. I was making naan one evening and thought it needs a rather rich side dish. I chose to make this malai gobi methi. There is something unique and wonderful about methi that imparts richness and aroma to dishes. If you have guests and you want to impress them with a rich gravy, I would recommend one with methi and cream combined with other vegetables. If you do not have cream, add milk and simmer so it thickens and is creamy. There are a number of variations of this recipe, most of them involve far more steps but I like to kep things simple and quicker. Here is the recipe...

1 cup chopped methi (fenugreek leaves)

1 small cauliflower, cut into florets

2 green chillies

1 small piece ginger

4-5 almonds

2 tablespoon cream

1 large onion, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped roughly

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon chilly powder

Turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Cooking oil and or butter

Heat some oil in a pan and fry the onions until brown

Cool the onions and grind along with tomato, ginger, green chilly, almonds to a fine paste

In the mean time, heat some butter and oil and add the methi leaves and cook until wilted

Add the cauliflower florets and turmeric powder and sauté for couple of minutes

Add the ground paste and add little water and salt and cook covered for about five minutes

Once the cauliflower is cooked, add the coriander powder, chilly powder and cumin powder and cook for couple of minutes

Add cream and simmer for about ten minutes, make sure there is enough liquid and it does not burn

Serve with rice or naan or roti.

Channa Masala

Channa Masala

Channa masala is a very popular gravy back home. It is great with poori, roti, naan, rice and even with chat items. I think the secret to wonderful channa masala is the actual masala powder used. In India, I used to like Everest brand of masala powder but here I use MDH or Mangal and am quite happy with them. Channa aka chickpea is rich in low fat protein. It is important to soak it in adequate water for atleast eight hours. The soaking process is not only to enable cooking but also to make the protein digestible by human body. Without soaking, some contents of such legumes, also called anti-nutrients, interfere with the absorption of the goodness in these. It is not recommended to add salt while cooking as it is said to make the skin hard. In order to ease digestion and enhance flavour, I cook the channa with cinnamon, ginger and cloves. You could use other whole spices too. If you are running out of time or forgotten to soak, you can always keep a tin of chickpea handy and use it. I normally drain and rinse tinned legumes as they have far too much salt. Here is the recipe...

½ cup channa, soaked for 8-12 hours

1 onion, finely chopped

3 tomatoes, chopped

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon channa masala

½ teaspoon chilly powder

2 pinches kasoori methi

Turmeric powder

1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste (optional)

Salt to taste

Cooking oil

1 cinnamon

2 cloves

Small piece ginger

Pressure cook the channa dal with the cloves, cinnamon and ginger. Make sure it is cooked well

Heat some oil and fry the onions until brown

Add the tomatoes and cook until mushy and oil begins to separate

Add coriander powder, cumin powder, channa masala, chilly powder and kasoori methi. Also add required salt and cook for 3-5 minutes

Add the cooked channa dal and required water and simmer until it thickens. Mash some channa to thicken the gravy

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with any Indian bread or rice