Ghatte ki Subji

Moving from one royalty to another, from the Mughals to the Rajputs. The recipe I am sharing with you all today is a Rajasthani dish called ghatte ki subji. Rajasthan being a desert and all has limited availability of fresh veggies and water. Hence the cuisine is greatly influenced by ingredients that were readily available such as dried lentils, flour. Besan (gram flour) is widely used to make ghatta (pl. ghatte), pakodi etc. Ghattes can be used in subji, kadi or even pulao. Once the ghatte are ready, the whole dish can be made within 20-30 min which makes this a wonderful dish for a busy weekday meal. To boost its nutritional value, I have added bell peppers; vegetables such as carrots, cauliflower etc can be also added.

Ingredients:
For Ghatta:
2 cups besan
1 tsp ajwain
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp Dhania-jeera powder
1/2 tsp amchoor
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil salt to taste
For gravy:
1 onion
3 tomatoes
2 bell pepper (cut into big pieces)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, minced
11/2 chilli powder
2 tsp dhania-jeera powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp amchoor
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp fennel
2 tsp thick yogurt or sour cream
1 tsp kasoori methi
cilantro for garnish

Method:
Ghatta:

1. Mix all the ingredients for the ghatta with enough water to form a tight dough (like that of a chapathi dough).
2. Roll it out into an inch thick cylinder and cut into bite size pieces.
3. Drop the pieces into salted boiling water and let it cook for 10-15 min or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
4. Drain them and let it dry for a few mintues.
5. Shallow fry or saute these ghattes in a few tablespoon of oil.

At this point, ghattes can be frozen and they stay good for a month or so.

Gravy:

1. Heat oil in a saute pan, add fennel and jeera.
2. Add ginger, garlic and onions. Saute until the onions are golden brown.
3. Now add the tomatoes, turmeric and salt. Cook until the raw smell of tomato disappears.
4. Add chilli powder, dhania-jeera powder, amchoor and let it cook until it becomes thick.
5. Now add the yogurt/sour cream and mix in bell peppers.
6. Add 1/2 cup water and let it boil for 5 min or until the bell peppers are cooked but firm.
7. Now add the ghatte and let it boil for 10 more mins or until the ghatte are soft.
8. Sprinkle the kasoori methi and cilantro.

Serve with hot rice or roti.

This post is my contribution for the "curry mela" blog event hosted by Srivalli of Cooking 4 all seasons blog. Hope you all like it :-)

Quick Vegetable Biryani

One of the most flavorful and aromatic rice dishes is biryani, brought to India by the Mughal rulers. For those of us interested in the history of biryani, this is a good read. Traditional biryani is labor intensive and takes a good couple of hours to get done. The final step in a traditional biryani is the layering: a heavy-bottom pan is filled with alternate layers of rice and veggie masala, top is covered with dough (made of wheat flour, similar to roti dough) and cooked on a slow fire. This dough helps to seal all the flavors inside, thus enhancing the flavor of the dish. A more modern alternative is to layer rice and veggies in a glass or an oven-proof vessel, cover with aluminum foil and bake in an oven. Here is my take on biryani: an easy and a fast one for everyday cooking!! Since my version is the quick cooking one, I skipped the layering part and just mixed the whole thing together and let it cook covered for a few minutes.

The time-consuming part in this version is marinating the veggies, longer it stands better it tastes. I like to marinate a whole bunch of veggies at a time, use half for immediate consumption and store the other half for another day. I normally freeze the unused portion and it stays good for 3-4 weeks. Once you have the marinated veggies ready, the masala takes just about 20-30 min to cook, which is normally the time it takes for rice to get done. Cook the rice just three quarters way through initially as it gets completely cooked at the end with the veggies.

Ingredients:
2 cup rice (mix rice with 2 cardamom, 4 cloves, 1 bay leaf)
1 small onion
1 big tomato
1 tsp cumin (jeera)
1 inch stick cinnamon
3 cardamom
4 cloves
2 bay leaves
2 cup mixed veggies (carrots, cauliflower, beans, peas, potatoes, bell pepper, mushrooms, zucchini)
2 tsp oil or ghee
Garam masala powder, to taste
Salt to taste

Grind together: 1/2 cup mint, 3 green chillies, 1 inch ginger, 3 cloves garlic
For Marinade: 2 tbsp yogurt, 2 tsp red chilli powder, 2 tsp Coriander-cumin powder (dhaniya-jeera powder), 1 tsp dried mango powder (amchoor), 1tsp sugar, 1 tsp turmeric
Garnish: cilantro, fried cashews or peanuts (optional)

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade and stir in half of the ground paste. Add veggies to this marinade and let it rest for 1 hour or so.
2. Cook rice + whole spices mixture with 2 cups of water for 20 min .
3. Add 2 tsp oil in a big saute pan. Add cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaves, cloves, jeera and the onions. Saute until the onions are brown. Add tomatoes, remaining half of the ground paste and saute for 2 more minutes.
4. Now add the marinated vegetables along with the marinate. Saute for 2 more minutes.
5. Add 1 cup of water and cook until the veggies are tender but firm and all the water has been absorbed.
6. At this point, add the cooked rice to the veggies. Mix well. Add salt and sprinkle some garam masala powder.
7. Sprinkle a few tablespoon of water, close the pan and let it cook for 5 - 10 minutes in a low heat (take care not to burn the dish).
8. Garnish with cilantro and serve with raita.

This dish can very well be jazzed up for a special occasion but that's for another week :-)

Happy cooking.....

5 PM Hunger Pangs!!

Here we are, working hard for 8 hrs and you come home to what......"the 5PM hunger pangs" :-) Its that time of the day when its too early for dinner and a light snack is all we need to stave off hunger till dinner time. A quick option is the vending machine, if available or the snack in a packet which may not always be healthy. This blog is all about a few relatively healthy snacks that can be conjured up in just a few minutes. Make it ahead of time, freeze it and voila... you have a snack in less than 10 min.

Keeping up my promise of giving more recipes using mint pesto, here's a snack/appetizer that is easy to make, healthy but delicious. Any bread that you have on hand will work and for a more classic touch a baguette may be used.

Bruschetta with Mint pesto
Ingredients:
6 slices of multi grain bread (any kind would do)
Mint pesto
Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Spread each slice with generous amount of mint pesto.
2. Sprinkle with cheese (salt and pepper if required).
3. Toast in a 400F pre-heated oven for 5-8 min or until golden brown and cheese is melted.
4. Cut into pieces and serve warm.

Corn Meal Appam (Savory appam)

I used a non-stick appam pan that I hauled all the way from India. Little did I know that it is available in many stores for around 20 dollars, only that it is called Aebleskiver pan rather than an appam pan.

Ingredients:
1 cup corn meal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 small onion
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin (Jeera)
1 tsp fennel (saunf)
1 tsp red chilli powder (optional)
3/4 cup buttermilk or as required
2 tbsp cashew nuts or peanuts
salt to taste

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients well. Add buttermilk as necessary to get a thick batter.
2. Heat an appam pan and grease well with oil (Normally just a few drops in each slot is just sufficient).
3. Pour batter in each slot and cook on a medium heat for few min or until one side is browned.
4. Turn over to the other side and cook until golden brown.
5. Serve with tomato ketchup or chutney.

Happy munching :-)