Fresh Corn Upma.

Corn-Uma-2, originally uploaded by gems7882.

Hello Hello Hello....:) Guess today I am too excited about updating my almost dead blog...:P Its been like 2 months I have not updated my blog or added any new recipe. So Lets make this a fresh start hoping I will continue adding new recipes to my space. This recipe which I am going to post now is called fresh corn upma and its my favourite. I ate this first at a gujrati friends place...when I was in Mumbai...around 10 yrs back. It was so creamy n yummy. I always wanted to try making this dish... but simply forgot about it as time went buy.

One day my DH got some fresh corn from the grocery stores...which were directly dumped in the fridge...for later use. Few days back when I was cleaning my fridge i found these poor ignored things.... I was wondering maybe I can make a soup.... hmm but soup with 3 corn on cob will be too much for 3 people.... so Soup wont do.
Whatelse can I make with this? That when I remember this yummy recipe for Corn upma. I have tried to remeber a 10 yr old recipe and tried it. It turned out pretty good. If u have any suggestion of additions I can make to this recipe... Please do suggest...:)

Ingredients :

Fresh corn peeled n cleaned and Grated - 3
Onion - 1/2 chopped
Carrot - 1/2 cup grated or finely chopped
Mustard seeds
Garlic - 1 tsp (optional)
green chillies - 2 to 3 chopped
Ginger - 1 tsp chopped
Potato - 2 small grated
Milk - 1/2 cup
Oil
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/s tsp
Sev and Fresh coriander leaves to garnish
Lemon juice or wedge.


Method :

Heat a pan and oil to it. Add the mustard seed at let it crackle. Add the Onion, carrots and potato and stir cook for few minutes. Add the ginger, garlic and green chillies and stir. Cover and cook for few minute until the potato cooks a bit. Add corn, salt, turmeric powder, milk. Mix well. Cover and cook for 12 minutes stirring in between.Add little water if u feel the the mixture is too dry. Heat until the corn cooks up and gets thick like Rava upma.

Remove from flame. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with lemon wedges, Sev and Coriander leaves.

Serve as a filling and yummy evening snack. Enjoy

Mushroom Masala

Mushroom-Masala2, originally uploaded by gems7882.

I made this for lunch yesterday and it turned out so well, I couldnt stop myself from blogging (read bragging) about this. It was just like the mushroom masala we get in Indian restaurants and It was literally onion free ( U dont count 2 green onions :P) Here is the recipe for the same.

Ingredients :

Mushroom - 1 big box.
Ginger - 2 tsp
Garlic 1 tsp
Tomato paste / puree - 1 small can
Bellpepper and onion - 1/4 cup each (optional)
Salt to taste.
Turmeric pwdr - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli pwdr - 2 tsp (we like it spicy) u can substitute with green chillies if u wish.
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Whole spices (cardamom -1, cinamon- small piece, Star anise- 1 leaf, Bay leaf - 1, cloves 2)
Milk - 3/4 cup
Constarch - 2 tsp
Fresh coriander garnish

Method :

Method : Take oil..add the whole spices to it...add garlic and ginger saute for a minute... then add the bell pepper and onion and saute. Add salt, turmeric, garam maslaa and the mix well.

Add the tomato paste and above a cup water and let ...it boil well...so that the tomato cooks. once the tomato cooks and the gravy thickens a bit....add the milk mixed with constarch to the gravy. mix well and let it cook. Add some crushed methi leaves for the lovely smell. Let it thicken and gel well.

In another saute pan add the chopped mushroom and sprinkle some salt and pepper. cook on high flame and stir for 2-3 minutes. off the gas and keep it aside. Let it leave some water... then drain the water and add the mushroom to the gravy. Take care about the salt u add to the gravy as u will be adding salt seperately for the mushrooms.

Add mushrooms to gravy.. mix ad cook for 5-6 minutes. Off the gas and garnish with coriander leaves.

Your Mushroom Masala restaurant style is ready to be eaten with, naan, phulkas or parathas.

Enjoy!

Vankaya Kothimira Karam

This Curry was taught to me by my Jyothi Akka. It tastes awesome and is a delish side for Chapati, roti or just with plain steamed rice. I make this anytime I have an excess of Coriander leaves in my refrigerator. I have tried this curry with Okra, Potatoes and even raw banana... and it always tastes so good.

Here goes the Recipe

Ingredients:

Small Indian Brinjal/ Eggplant : 6
Green chillies : 2-3 (depending on the spiciness of the chillies)
Ginger : small piece
Coriander leaves : 1 medium bunch
Jeera : 1 tsp
turmeric pwd : 1 tsp
Salt to taste

For tempering

Mustard seeds :2tsp
Urad dhal : 1 tsp
Oil
Dried whole red chilli : 2


Method :

Clean and roughly chop the coriander leaves. Add it to a blender and blend into a paste along with ginger, green chillies and jeera and little salt. Keep aside.

Clean and cut the eggplant lenghtwise. In a deep bottomed pan add oil. Put the jeera and urad dal and wait till the jeera crackles. Now add the mustard seeds and allow it to splutter. Add the cut eggplant. Add salt and turmeric and cooked covered till the eggplant becomes tender ad cooks well. Dont worry if the eggplant becomes mushy.thats Okay. if u dont like it mushy... cook the eggplant without covering and keep stirring..:)

Once the eggplant is cooked, add the coriander paste to it and mix well. Allow it to cook for 8 mins more and turn off the heat. Cover and leave until ur ready to serve.


This is an awesome curry and the best part about it this is... its naturally favoured. The smell is so tantalising.... just yummy....:D do try it and give me ur review on it...:D

Pani Poori - for the Indian Cooking Challenge

Hello friends...here I am after a long long back.... and with my second recipe in this year and also as a fresh new member of the ICC - Indian Cooking challenge. This is my first participation in the ICC... and I just loved this experience. This months topic was Pani poori (an indian snack) my favorite street food. Loved making it...:) Here is the recipe for the pani poori.

Ingredients :

For the Pooris (altered recipe by me..)

Sooji (Semolina) - 3/4
All purpose flour - 1/4 tsp (APF)
Cooking soda - 1tsp (optional - skipped it)
little water for kneading the dough. -1/4 cup approx
Salt to taste
Oil for Frying

The method is so simple.. I never thought it cud be so easy to make these pooris. It does need some work...like rolling out the dough into small pooris and then fryin it on medium high...maybe 3 or 4 at a time... hmm.. it did take me a lot of time....hence I made it a day before. These can be easily stored in a nice air tight container...and will stay fresh for weeks...:) Please note that u allow the poori to cool down completely before u put them in a container. For the method : Mix the sooji, salt, APF into a tight dough. it should be pliable yet firm... cover with a damp cloth and keep it aside for 10 mins.

Arrange for 2 damp clothes. One to put the rolled Pooris on and other to cover them. After 10 mins... roll the pooris out. Once u have rolled them all... now fry them.

** Tricks I learnt.... Instead of rolling individual small pooris.. u can roll a big sheet and using the lid of any bottle or cookie cutter... u can cut out the round shapes. Please keep in mind that the poori have to me medium size. Something u can put in ur mouth whole.

Dont keep flipping the poori when fry. Put the poori in... let it be there for 5 secs... flip it.. and then gently press it with ur laddle... ur pooris will puff up well that way...:) It did for me..:D

I tried this poori twice..once with soda and once without it. I liked it better without the soda. As i felt it puffed better... and I also increased the proportion of maida to sooji... in the second trial... and wow! my poori were more lighter and puffy :) I will share both the pics with u... so u can see the difference..:d

pic one and two r the trials with less maida and soda. Pic three is with more maida and no soda.

For the Spicy Pani


Mint Leaves - 1 1/2 cups chopped well
Coriander Leaves - 1/2 cup
Tamarind concentrate - 1 1/2 tbsp
Green Chillies - 3
Ginger - 1 " piece
Black salt - 1 tsp
8 to 9 cups of water
Pani puri Masala - 2 tbsp (optional)

The actual recipe called for roasted cumin... I skipped it and yet it was just awesome...:)

Method : Blend the green chillies, coriander, mint and ginger, tamarind... into a fine paste using little water. Add this mixture to the water. Add salt and ur pani is ready. (alter the salt according to ur taste...)

I added some pani poori masal also to it... just coz I am habituated too...:P But i guess it will taste good... even without it..:D

I made 2 different types of fillings...

1. The Potato filling : mix together mashed potato, salt, red chilli powder. Mix well and ur filling is ready.

2. Chana filling : Soak and pressure cook Chana / Garbanzo (u can even use canned). Put the chana in a pot and cook it with a little water. Add salt, turmeric and chilli powder, Garam masala to it. Cook well till the masala smell goes off. Ur filling is ready ..:)

Tamarind Chutney

Take 3 tbsp tamarind concentrate and mix it with around 3/4 cup of water. Add sugar/jaggery, a pinch of red chilli powder. Boil it well so that it reduces to almost half. Ur chutney it ready too...

And so r u I guess to indulge in this super famous ...real tangy and yummy snack... yumm!

Hope u liked the recipe.. will post more soon..:d

Baigan mirchi ka salan

Baigan ka salan is a very famous Hyderabadi dish which is eaten along side biryani. I wanted to try this from a long time but just now got the time. When I saw searching for this authentic recipe I came across this site. Got this awesome recipe and I had to try it. I made this salan as a side for phulkas. The main recipe calls only for baigans (eggplants) but I also went ahead and added some green chillies for the perfect combination of Mirchi (chillies) & Baigan (eggplant) Salan...:)




Ingredients :

Indian Small Eggplant - 10
California chillies - 2 or 3 (or u may use any less spicy chilli)
Oil - 2 tbsp
Onion -1 chopped and blended into paste
Ginger Garlic Paste- 1 tbsp
Salt
Tamarind - Soaked and strained
Tomato Puree -1/2 cup (try to use fresh tomatos for puree..)
Masala / Roasted Peanuts -Fistful
KhusKhus -1 tbsp
Jeera or Cummin seeds-1/2 tbsp
Methi seeds or Fenugreek seeds-1/2 tsp
Dry coconut - 2 tbsp
Dry Whole red chilli - 2
Dhaniya or Coriander seeds -1/2 tbsp
Seseme seeds - 1 tbsp

Method :

Prepare by washing the eggplants and green chillies well. Do not cut the stem off from eggplants. Make 4 slits on the sides of the eggplant but do see that u dont cut them off there stem. The Eggplant should remain in one piece after slicing in 4 parts. Slit the green chillies in the centre and remove the seeds if u wish. Cut the chillies into half and keep aside.

Heat the oil in a flat pan and once the oil is hot add the cut egglpants and cover with a lid. Let the eggplants cook on medium heat or till they become tender and somewhat brown in colour.Keep aside. Do the same for the green chillies and keep aside.
Now for making the masala we have to grind few ingredients.If using unroasted peanuts see that u dry roast them well. (I used roasted ones for ease) Dry roast the khus khus and sesame seeds. Dry Roast Fenugreek and cummin seeds together. Add coriander seeds after the two are half roasted. Once you start smelling cummin seeds, turn off the stove and add dry coconut. Let everything cool down completely. Now, make a paste of this and keep aside.

In a heavy bottomed pan heat some oil. When the oil is hot enough, add the onion paste. Saute it for few minutes and then add the ginger garlic paste. Mix well until it starts browning. Now add the tomato puree and fry until the raw smell of tomato goes away.

Now go ahead and add the ground masala. Mix well and cover the pan. Let it cook for few minutes and add salt and red chilli powder. Stir for 1 minute or so and add the fried eggplants and green chillies. Mix well. See that ur gentle and u dont mash or break the eggplants off their stems. Add the tamarind and let it simmer a little while.Check for salt, chilli powder and tamarind and add it according to your taste. The masala can be made and frozen for future use and it will taste equally good as the freshly ground. Ur Baigan Mirchi ka salan is ready to be relished..:)







Enjoy with hot phulkas, parathas, rice or biryani.