Namkeen Roti

It is an excellent way to use up leftover pulp from soup of vegetables like tomatoes, beans, carrots, spinach etc. Instead of throwing strained pulp in the trash, I knead it in wheat flour to make Namkeen Paratha.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• ½ cup besan (optional)
• 1 cup pulp of strained vegetables
• ½ tsp carom seeds
• 2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro leaves
• Salt to taste
• Desi ghee

Method:

• Put whole-wheat flour in a large bowl. Add all the ingredients except ghee. Add very little water to knead the flour. Knead softly until you get smooth, medium-soft dough. Add more flour if the dough is too sticky or too soft.
• Add 2 tbsp of ghee now and continue to knead. Once the dough is done, put it in a closed container and keep it in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
• Divide the dough into equal sized portions and roll each portion into a ball between your palms. Use dry flour or oil to make smooth balls.
• Lightly flour a rolling board and roll out each ball into a 6-7” circle.
• Place the roti on heated griddle or tawa.
• When toasted on one side, turn it over and let the other side cook for few seconds, until tiny brown spots appear on the side facing the griddle.
• Turn it over once again and press it with a muslin cloth all around the chapati. Flip the chapati and press gently around the other side too. When it is light brown on both sides, remove from heat.
• Apply butter on the upper surface of the roti.
• Serve with Dal (lentil) and Sabji (curry) of your choice.

Do You Know?

Dietary fiber or roughage is the indigestible portion of plant foods that pushes food through the digestive system, absorbing water and easing defecation.

Chemically, dietary fiber consists of non-starch polysaccharides such as cellulose and many other plant components such as dextrin, inuline etc.

Fiber-rich plants can be eaten directly or through supplements and fiber-rich processed foods.

Benefits of eating fiber are many: The consumption of soluble fiber has been shown to protect you from developing heart disease by reducing your cholesterol levels. The consumption of insoluble fiber reduces your risk of developing constipation, colitis, colon cancer, and hemorrhoids.

Chicken Korma II

Chicken Korma is rich with mild, thick, creamy gravy. Serve it with hot Tandoori Roti or Parathas or plain boiled rice.

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts halves cut in cubes
• 1 large onions thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp ginger paste
• 1 tbsp garlic paste
• ½ cup yogurt
• ½ cup sour cream
• 2 tbsp cashew paste
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 bay leaves
• 3-4 green cardamoms
• ½ tsp caraway seeds
• 2 tbsp coriander powder
• 1 tbsp red chili powder
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp garam masala powder
• Salt to taste
• ¼ cup oil

Method:

• Heat oil in a heavy based sauce pan and fry onions to a golden color, remove onions with a slotted spoon and grind to a fine paste. Mix the onion paste with yogurt, cashew nut paste, and sour cream; and keep aside.
• Reheat the oil over medium heat, add bay leaves cloves, green cardamom, black cumin and fry for few seconds till golden brown.
• Now add garlic paste, ginger paste, coriander powder, garam masala, chili powder, and salt. Stirring frequently sauté for about 5 minutes. Add chicken cubes and fry for another 5 minutes. Cover the pan, reduce the heat and allow cooking for 25 - 30 minutes or until the chicken is almost tender.
• Stirring continuously, add a little yogurt mixture at a time to the chicken to blend it into the mixture. Repeat until the entire yogurt mixture has been added. Stirring frequently fry for 5-8 minutes or until the meat is tender. Add 1-2 cups of water to adjust the consistency of gravy to your choice. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.
• Sprinkle with coriander and serve hot with Paratha, Tandoori Roti or plain rice.

Do You Know?
Meat, like any food, can transmit certain diseases. Chicken is often contaminated with Salmonella enterica, disease-causing bacteria.
Minced beef can be contaminated during slaughter with disease-causing E.coli 0157:H7 deriving from the intestinal tract if proper precautions are not taken.
Undercooked pork sometimes contains the parasites that cause trichinosis or cysticercosis.

Aloo moongodi Ki Rasedar Sabji (Potato and Sun dried ground lentil dumplings curry

Potato and Moong (lentil) dumplings (moongodi) cooked with mild spices to make a delicious curry. If you have time prepare fresh moong wadia (moongodi) at home otherwise get the ready made moongodi from Indian grocery stores.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup moongodi
• 1 big potato cut in 1” cubes
• 2 green chilies finely chopped
• 2 large onions cut into quarters
• 1 medium tomato cut into quarters
• 1 tbsp garlic paste
• 1 tbsp ginger paste
• 2 tbsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tbsp red chili powder (reduce quantity if you want less heat)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 6-8 tbsp cooking oil

Method:

• Grind the onion and tomato together in a food processor until you get a smooth paste. Try not to add too much water while grinding.
• Heat 2-3 tbsps of oil in a pan and gently stir-fry the cubes of moongodi until golden. Remove onto a plate and keep aside.
• In the same vessel heat 4-5 tbsp of oil and add the onion tomato paste. Fry until it turns light brown. Add green chilies, ginger and garlic paste and fry for another 2 minutes. Add the coriander, red chili, cumin, and turmeric powders, and fry stirring continuously, until the oil begins to separate from the masala.
• Stir in the moongodi and add desired amount of water and salt. Transfer in a pressure cooker and cook till two pressure releases.
• When the pressure drops, open the lid of the pressure cooker. Add potato cubes and pressure cook it again till one pressure release. (Remember that cooking time of moongodi and potato is different, moongodi takes longer to cook than potato).
• Transfer curry to serving bowl. Add garam masala powder.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with roti or paratha.

How to Make Mangodi (Sun dried ground lentil dumplings)

Main requirement for fresh Mangodi to be made at home is good sun light for at least 2-3 days.

Ingredients:
1 cup split and skinned Green gram dal (Dhuli moong ki dal)
1” Ginger piece
2-3 Green Chilies
pinch of Asafetida

Method:

• Soak Green gram dal overnight.
• Drain it and grind with Ginger, Chilies and asafetida to fine paste without adding water.
• Grease a polythene sheet or a steel thali.
• Pour ½ spoonful of the paste all over the sheet or thali and let it dry in the sun for a day or two.
• When dried store them in airtight jars.
  

Tangy Potato Salad

Serve this tangy potato salad as starter; I am sure even non-potato lovers will also fall in love with potatoes after eating this.

Ingredients:

• 1 large potato boiled and cubed
• 2-3 spring onions finely chopped
• 1 green chili chopped fine

Dressing:

• 3-4 tbsp thick yogurt
• 1 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp salad oil
• ¼ tsp sugar
• ¼ tsp black pepper powder
• Salt to taste

Method:

• In a big bowl, take all the ingredients for dressing. Mix them well. Now add potato cubes, chopped spring onion and green chilies.
• Gently mix everything together to avoid breaking the potatoes.
• Refrigerate covered for at least two hours.
• Serve as starter.

Do You Know?

Spring Onion is also commonly known as green onion, scallion or salad onion. These are milder than other onions because they are harvested before the bulb are developed fully.

Khagina (Scrambled Egg Curry)

Egg Khagina is a common and favorite breakfast dish in Hyderabad. It is served with Paratha /Bread/Bun. A typical egg khagina contains eggs, scrambled with fried onions, tomatoes and spices; but variations can occur according to the taste and method of cooking.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp ginger finely chopped
• 1 tsp garlic finely chopped
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 1 green chili finely chopped
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• Salt to taste
• ½ cup tomato chopped finely
• 1 tbsp cilantro finely chopped
• 3-4 tbsp cooking oil

Method:

• Heat oil in a frying pan on medium heat and add chopped onions.
• Fry them until they become light brown.
• Stir in chopped ginger garlic, tomato, green chilies, red chili powder, turmeric powder, salt and cook until the tomatoes become soft.
• Crack the eggs into the frying pan and cook them on top of the onion tomato masala. Keep stirring to avoid the onions sticking to the pan.
• When eggs seem to cook through, break them with a wooden spatula, not to cut them into too small pieces.
• Garnish with chopped cilantro.
• Serve with Paratha ( Pan-fried Indian flat bread) / Bread Slice/ Bun.

Do You Know?

A boiled egg can be distinguished from a raw egg without breaking the shell by spinning it. A hard-boiled egg's contents are solid due to the denaturation of the protein, allowing it to spin freely, while viscous dissipation in the liquid contents of a raw egg causes it to stop spinning within approximately three rotations.

Galawati Kebabs (Minced Lamb Kebab)

These delicious kebabs are the mainstay of Awadhi cuisine from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (North India). 'Galawati' means 'melt in your mouth'.

The actual recipe is supposed to have more than 100 aromatic spices and high fat content. The secret of making juicy and soft Galawati kebabs is the use of high fat content i.e. about 20% of the fat. High fat also makes it responsive to tenderizers.

In my recipe of the Galawati kebabs less fat and less aromatic spices are used. The minced lamb meat is tenderized by raw Papaya to make kebabs soft. Round patties formed are stir fried over griddle and served with Green Coriander Chutney.

Ingredients:

• 1pound goat/lamb very finely minced
• 2 tbsp raw papaya paste
• 1 large onion in the form of paste
• 1 tbsp ginger paste
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• ½ tsp green chili paste
• 1 tbsp finely chopped mint leaves
• 1 tbsp milk powder
• 4 tbsp butter/ghee
• ½ tsp red chili powder
• ¼ tsp Ground Cloves
• ¼ tsp Ground Cinnamon
• ½ tsp Ground Cardamom
• ½ tsp Black pepper ground
• 1 tsp Kewra water (available in Indian Grocery Stores)
• Pinch mace powder (Javitri)
• 3-4 tbsps Bengal Gram Flour, lightly roasted
• Salt to taste
• 4 tbsps oil/ghee to pan-fry the kebabs

Method:

• Combine ground lamb, papaya, salt and pulverize it in the Food Processor or grind it fine into mincing machine. Keep it aside to marinate for one hour.
• Heat 4 tbsp of ghee/butter in a pan. Add Onion, Green chili, Garlic and Ginger paste. Sauté until moisture is evaporated and the paste is almost brown. Remove it from heat.
• Mix in cloves, cinnamon, cardamoms, red chili, mace and black pepper powder. Add milk powder and Kewra.
• Stir in marinated lamb including the papaya and finely chopped mint leaves.
• Sprinkle roasted Besan over the mixture. Knead well into soft dough. Add more Besan if needed. Let mixture rest for 1 hour in refrigerator.
• Remove the mix from the refrigerator and knead again. Divide the mix in to small portions. Form the balls and press them into round patty like structures.
• Heat the ghee in a heavy-bottomed skillet (on a medium flame) and pan-fry the kebabs until golden on both sides.
• Serve with Mint-coriander chutney and Khasta Paratha.

Do You Know?

Avadh was the birthplace of some of the finest food in the land. The Nawabs of Avadh had always craved the best foods even when old and toothless. This led to the innovation of one of the most celebrated kebabs of the day, the Shahi Gilawat ka Kebab, reputed to be so tender that even a toothless person could eat it without difficulty. It is also said to contain over a hundred aromatic and digestive spices that were supposed to ensure one's continued health and well-being.