Chana Masala | Spicy Chickpea Curry | Garbanzo Bean Curry

Kabuli Chana is a very popular and loved food in my family. Its made almost on every festival or celebration with Puri, Paratha, or Luchi. However we never really seem to stick to a particular recipe. As I was getting this post together, I realised I already have two recipes of Chole on my blog: Tari Wale Chole | Curried Chickpeas and Rice Plate Chole | Chickpeas with Rice. The first is a recipe that TH likes to make every so often, and the latter is a reminiscence of my days at DU!

Summer Sweet Corn and Tomato Pie

Its coming up to the end of summer and corn and tomatoes are available aplenty here. I made this sweet corn and tomato pie last week to enjoy both the flavours at the peak of the season. We had picked up some sweet corn from a farmers market and the tomatoes I got from the farm where I get my summer produce!! The pink tomatoes were just so gorgeous that the moment I saw them all I could think of was making a pie with them.

Matar Aloo Tamatar ki Sabzi | Potato Peas and Tomato Stir Fry

Matar Aloo is a classic in the North Indian Kitchen. There are so many ways in which it is prepared in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, and UP. The recipe I have today is a classic Matar Aloo from UP. The vegetable is a staple of the diet there. It is made with tomatoes for a delicious tanginess, and the ginger, garlic, and green chilies, all add to the flavour. This Sabji | Sabzi is best enjoyed with hot rotis or parathas, freshly chopped salad, and some plain yogurt on the side.

Moong Dal Khichdi | Split Yellow Mung Bean Khichree

Kichidi - that delicious melange of rice and lentils - is the ultimate comfort food. And moomg dal kichidi comes out at the top. In this version, I have added a tomato and potato to make the dish extra nutritious and comforting.

Tamatar -Shimla-Paneer Bhurji | Tomato-Green Pepper-Cottage Cheese Scramble

Paneer or Indian Style Cottage Cheese is a real favourite of mine. When I first moved to this city, there was only one Indian store and I never quite trusted the fresh/frozen paneer there. I took to making paneer at home and have stuck to it ever since. Last evening I was craving just some of these creamy home made cheese curds, and I made a quick batch. I let them stay a little soft as I wanted to make this delicious creamy Paneer Bhurji - scrambled with vegetables and spices.

Vine-Ripened Cherry Tomatoes: Oven-Dried with Olive Oil & Herbs

I picked up a wonderful stash of vine ripened tomatoes from my latest run to our local 'Pick-Ur-Own' at canning prices. There were red tomatoes, Roma, cherry tomatoes, and my favourite the pick tomatoes with their flavoursome tanginess. Leaving the cherry and pick tomatoes aside, I pickled all the red and Roma tomatoes using two of my well-tested recipes.

Fada | Dalia aur Tamatar Ka Upma (Broken Wheat Porridge with Tomatoes)

Whenever I think porridge, I remember the milk and honey soaked dalia (broken wheat) of my school days. Now a days, I like my dalia salty, and yes you guessed it, spicy!! Here is a recipe that is both quick and easy. I like to make this for weekend breakfast, as it is both nutritious and filling and perfect for a good start to the day!!

Tari Wale Chole | Curried Chickpeas

Chole is a favourite dish in our home. While I make chole more suitable for chaat and tikkis, he makes them in  a typically North Indian style. Tari Wale Chole is typical of UP and Delhi where you will find this curry being sold early mornings at railway stations and small eateries near bus stops. It is also popular in the many temple towns there. The curry of this chole is very simple to make yet is very flavourful. Ideal for dunking freshly made pooris!!

Vegetable & Black Bean Soup

There is a lovely bakery in our neighbourhood. It specializes in bagels, whole grain breads, and an amazing array of Danish pastries! They also do soup and sandwich lunches and the best part of this is that they actually have 2-3 completely vegetarian soups on the menu each day. And by vegetarian I mean that even their basic soup stock is a vegetable stock!!

Sarson Ka Saag | Mustard Greens Indian Style

Sarson ka saag is one of the great favourites in the winter months in Delhi, when mustard greens are available in abundance as is fresh spinach. Sarson ka Saag or Mustard Greens are of course an import from Haryana which borders the capital, and can be found as a staple in the many roadside dhabas that dot the state.

Sookhi Rajma ki Dal | Spicy Red Kidney Beans

What would Aloo Tikkis be without an accompanying sauce? Of course, every self-respecting chef does stock up on an assortment of chutneys and ketchup!! But the simplicity of the tikkis is somehow jazzed up wonderfully with a tasty legume of some kind - often spicy chickpeas. I simply adore that combination which I love to serve up with tamarind and mint chutney. Yummy:)

Spicy Lima Bean Curry

Finally I got time to do some real cooking. I had been tied up in some writing last week. So we were making do with quick dinners. But by friday morning I was really beginning to miss the kitchen. The frigid temperatures and the heavy snow we have been experiencing for the last few weeks also made the warmth of the kitchen really inviting:) And so I set out to prepare some of my favourite recipes - spicy, fragrant, and deliciously warming.

Saibhaji | Dilled Mixed Vegetables and Lentils

I picked up a bunch of Dill on my weekly grocery trip with the intention of making Saibhaji. Pressed for time, I ended up ignoring the refrigerator for most of the week. On Thursday, however, I could not stop myself - the urge to whip up something quick yet delicious was overwhelming. What else, but the simple but very special Saibhaji could satisfy the taste buds!!

The Way of the Daring Baker: To Mix, To Knead, & then To Toss....

This Daring Bakers Challenge involved an excellent choice of recipe. It comes from Peter Reinhart's: The Bread Baker's Apprentice. This recipe Pizza Napoletana is simply lovely - and as described by Rosa of Rosa's Yummy Yums yields a beautifully tasty, thin, crispy, yet chewy pizza crust.

The Challenge
This challenge required the Daring Baker to try and use the tossing method for at least 2 Pizza Crusts. of course, a switch to the rolling method was permitted, but tossing was the key to the challenge. And the moment of the toss as it were had to be captured on film for all posterity!!!! Talk about taking it up a notch....

Spicy Panner-Filled Rolls

Paneer or Indian-Style Cottage Cheese makes a delicious filling for these quick and easy bread rolls. Paneer is usually made with buffalo milk and is rich in calcium and contains upto 500mg calcium in a serving of a single cup. Quite simply, its good for you. These rolls taste delicious warm or cold. They are perfect as a snack, great for a party, but throw in a salad or soup and you get a yummy meal that's nutritious at the same time.

Spinach & Ricotta Manicotti

My friends and visitors to this blog are already familiar with the fact that I really don't enjoy using raw egg in my recipes. I try as far as possible to avoid them and where necessary replace them with relevant alternatives. All the recipes that I have come across for manicotti tend to use egg in the filling, I believe to bind together the ingredients. When I set out to make this recipe egg free, I was not quite sure how the filling would hold up. I was really pleasantly surprised to see it turned out perfect!!

Indian Street Food: Rice Plate Chole | Chickpeas with RIce

Now that's an unusual name for a recipe isn't it? Not if you've been to University in Delhi, Bombay, or many of the other metros in India. When I was completing my Masters in Delhi, I spent long long hours soaking up books in the library. Reading often gave way to a ravenous appetites and late after the local cafes and canteens closed doors, it was the corner shops and street stores that catered to the hunger of budding professionals. I remember stepping out of the library with some buddies, turning a quick corner, and ordering a steaming hot Rice Plate. Quite simply this comprised a plate heaped with rich and served with a deliciously simple curry, usually either chole (chickpeas) or rajma (red kidney beans). At what can only described as a nominal price, each plate served was always enough food for two!! Filling, satisfying, and nutritious, it was an excellent motivation to go back and hit the books.


This is my version of the very same chole made to go with rice. I add cinnamon, star anise, and nutmeg as they impart a delicately sweet flavour to this otherwise spicy curry. Here's to some great memories of Delhi, University, and the ubiquitous corner shop with a Rice Plate menu!!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups chickpeas, soaked overnight
2 onions, chopped fine
3 tomatoes, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced
1" piece ginger, minced
6-8 curry leaves
1" piece ginger, minced
1 black cardamom
2 points star anise (from 1 flower)
1/2 tsp cumin
6 black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
A few shavings nutmeg
Small stick cinnamon
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
Salt, to taste
2 tbsp oil

Method:

1. Drain the chickpeas, and pressure cook with with some fresh water, the cinnamon stick, black cardamom, star anise, 1/4 teaspoon cumin, peppercorns, bay leaves, a few shavings nutmeg, a pinch of salt, and ginger.
2. In a deep frying pan, add the oil. Once it is heated, add the cumin, the curry leaves, garlic, ginger and onions. Fry until the onions are golden brown, then add the tomatoes, salt to taste, turmeric, chilli powder, and 1/4 cup water. Cook until the tomatoes are soft and you have a semi liquid curry.
3. Pour the chickpeas with the liquid they were cooked in into the tomato-onion paste. Stir, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Check for seasonings and adjust according to taste.
4. Serve hot with plain rice, or for a treat enjoy with Zeera Chawal (Cumin Rice). Enjoy!!

I am sending this recipe out to Sri of Cooking for All Seasons for Curry Mela. This will be my very first entry to her Mela series :)

I am also sending this out to Aparna My Diverse Kitchen who is hosting this month's Think Spice, Think Nutmeg.

All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007-2013. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

Tamatar Paneer | Indian-Style Cottage Cheese in Tomato Sauce

Tomatoes and paneer are a truly beautiful combination. Almost every Indian home has its own special way of making this dish. I love paneer with fresh tomatoes, but when I make this curry style dish with tomato puree, its just finger-licking good!! Try this with Lasun Parathas , or Zeera Rice.

Bhuna Masala Lobhia | Black-Eyed Peas in a Spicy Tomato Sauce

Lobhia or Black-eyed beans are one of the more popular beans cooked across the Indian sub-continent. They are easy to prepare, very tasty, and chock full of nutrition - including calcium, folate, and Vitamin A!! They can be prepared in a dry vegetable style or in a more soupy way as a curry. They are excellent served with Parathas or rice.

Ingredients:
2 cups lobhia, soaked overnight
1 black cardamom
1 tsp cumin
6 black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
1 small piece star anise
2 cloves
1/2 tsp turmeric
Salt, to taste
2 large dried red chillies
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 large onion, diced
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 tbsp olive oil

Method:

1. Pressure cook the lobhia with a pinch of salt and turmeric. If you do not have a pressure cooker, cook it in a pan until soft.
2. In a large saucepan, heat the oil. Next add the cumin, cardamom, bay leaves, black peppercorns, cloves, and star anise. When these spices release a delicate aroma, add the onions and fry until transparent. Now add the chillies, and the chopped tomatoes.
3. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Now add the beans along with the water they were cooked in. Mix well. Boil and the cook on reduced heat for another 10 minutes.
5. Adjust the seasonings, and serve steaming hot with rice.

Note: This curry can be frozen and will stay well for at least a month in the freezer. Pull it out when you have surprise guests for a meal, or you need to add one dish to your dinner!

Vegan Recipe

All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007-2013. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

Dreamy Vegetarian Pizza

So, I was surfing the internet for interesting food events.... Yup, feels like I have been doing a lot of that lately!! But then there are so many wonderfully enthusiastic chefs out there, each dreaming up new ways to challenge our skills and creativity!! I still continue to be quite literally gobsmacked at the variety and range of food events online.

Anyway, the first site to pop out from the blogosphere was Stephanie's blog announcing a Pizza Party. Just perfect I thought. And then, almost simultaneously - what exactly is a pizza? I mean I know what a pizza is, I have eaten it often enough, I bake it at home quite frequently - and yet - what is a pizza?? Quite simply, a pizza as we know it today is an Italian open pie usually made of thin bread dough spread with a spiced mixture of a.k.a tomato sauce and cheese. According to the Smithsonian, the pizza could be said to be a descendant of the focaccia or bread rounds covered with herbs and spice which made their debut in Naples around 1000 years ago. Essentially a peasant food, it was a way of recycling leftovers by placing them over thin crusts of dough and the baking them. Indeed there was no tomato on the earliest pizzas as Europeans came to know of this beautiful fruit sometime in the 16th century, and it was added to the pizza only subsequently.