Gobi Manchurian

Monday dinner: Gobi Manchurian, an ever popular appetizer from the Indian subcontinent, with a glass of lassi. I urge you to try this recipe if you like  spicy food with Asian flavors.

For Fried Gobi/Cauliflower:

1 medium size cauliflower (U.S. size) This would be equivalent to approx. 2 small Indian cauliflowers.

½ cup Corn flour

6 table spoons Maida/ all-purpose flour

½ tea spoon grated ginger

½ tea spoon finely chopped garlic

½ tea spoon salt

¾ cup water + few table spoons to get the desired consistency

Approx. 3 cups of oil for frying

For masala:

2 medium size onions, diced into small pieces

4-5 table spoons chopped bell pepper/capsicum

4 table spoon oil

1 tea spoon grated ginger

1 table spoon finely chopped garlic

4 green chilies finely cut

2 table spoons soy sauce

4 table spoon tomato ketchup

3 table spoon chili sauce

1/2 tea spoon red chili powder;

1 table spoon Manchurian sauce (I used ching brand available at Indian grocery stores)

1 flat tea spoon salt

To garnish:

2 table spoons chopped green onion

To make:

1. Cut Cauliflower into medium size florets. Boil them in water for 2-3 minutes. Drain and spread on a paper towel or cloth towel to dry.
2. In a bowl, make a paste by adding the ingredients mentioned under ” For Fried Gobi/Cauliflower”.  The batter is fairly thick. Kind of like dosa/pancake batter.
3. Heat oil in a frying pan. When the oil is hot, coat each floret nicely in batter and drop in oil. Make sure oil is medium hot. Deep Fry all florets in batches. To make crispy florets, fry them for at least 10 minutes on low heat turning them around a few times. Remove to a plate.
4. For the Manchurian masala, Heat 3-4 table spoon  oil a broad, flattish pan. Add ginger, garlic, onions and bell peppers. Fry for 3-4 minutes.
5. Add soy sauce, chili sauce, ketchup, and Manchurian sauce.
6. Add Salt.
7. Saute on high heat for a minute.
8. Add the deep fried cauliflower florets and mix well keeping the heat high. It’s important to keep the heat high to retain crispiness.
9. Taste to see if you want to add more sauces / salt.
10. Empty onto a serving plate and garnish with finely chopped green onions.

Manchurian is best eaten fresh and hot, straight from the tava.

Easily serves 4.

Mysore Pak: The Southern Star

This gem of Indian sweets is so easy yet so difficult to make. The best of the best have been humbled by its “About faces.” Getting it perfect is a pure joy, a joy I experienced today. Here is the recipe for Mysore Pak, one of my favorite sweets.

Happy Deepavali

• 1 cup besan
• 2 cups ghee or  1 cup vegetable oil + 1 cup ghee
• 2 ¼ cups sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 non-stick kadhai/pan
• 10 inch diameter thali or 8×10 inch pan, well coated with ghee. Square or rectangular pan is better to get maximum number of perfectly shaped pieces.

Read the recipe first before making Mysore pak.

1. Heat ghee or oil+ghee combination in a pan. Keep it on the stove on low flame.

2. In a bowl mix besan and 2 table spoon of warm ghee/oil.

3. Mix well with hand until ghee is well incorporated into the besan (about 3 minutes)

4. Sieve the besan flour.

5. In the non-stick pan heat water. Add sugar and boil until one-thread consistency is achieved. (approx. 4 minutes) This is easy to test.  Place a drop of sugar syrup in a bowl of water. If the drop kind of remains intact and settles at the bottom of the bowl, the syrup is ready.

6. Add besan slowly, 1/3rd cup at a time to the sugar syrup.  Also increase the heat of the ghee pan mentioned in step 1 to medium low. When you add ghee, it should be just about hot; not too hot.

7. Stir the mixture for about 3-4 minutes.

8. Add a ladle of ghee to the mixture. It will be a bit frothy. Continue to stir for half a minute.

9. From now on add a ladle of ghee every half a minute, while stirring continuously.

10. After adding all the ghee, continue to stir for a couple of minutes and you will see that the mixture comes together as a single mass and has become a little frothy. Also, the bright yellow color will turn to a slightly pale yellow color. At this point, without hesitation, pour the mixture on to a thali/pan. Level it with a flat spoon if required. Give it a minute and then cut into squares.

Shri Rama Navami 2012

Best wishes on the occasion of Shri Rama Navami  2012 to my Indian friends. Today’s lunch menu was Roti, Rice, Green beans Sambhar, Cabbage curry and Almond milk for the prasad.

You can listen to the Nama Ramayana by M.S. Subbalakshmi by clicking on the link below.

Yugadi platter

Happy Yugadi to my south indian friends.

I was treated to a sumptuous Yugadi festival meal by my cousin and his wife today. They are a loving couple and impeccable when it comes to hospitality. The menu was Chitranna, masala vada, vegetable curry, kosambari, mixed vegetable sambhar, papad, yoghurt, and my favorite Obbattu. We ate from a steel thali covered with banana leaf – no spoon or fork. We talked about a lot of things over dinner: family, parents, relationships, food, life in the U.S. etc. etc. in a very relaxed manner. As always I played board game with kids, got to listen to their cute stories and a live carnatic vocal music performance! Celebrating Yugadi with family provided a relief from the humdrum routine of my daily life and reaffirmed my belief in the wisdom that lies behind our festivals and traditions.

Mohanthal

I have been asking my friend Nilima to pen down all her special recipes. I hope she heeds my request one of these days. North Indian, Gujarati, South Indian, Mexican, American, Italian… you name any cuisine and she will dish out a wonderful meal. Today I was lucky to get a container full of  Mohanthal, a traditional Gujarati sweet typically made during festivals and weddings. I have eaten many different types of Mohanthal but one made with Besan and Khoya tastes the best.

I asked for the recipe and she quickly obliged.  So, here it goes.  Thanks Nilima for the delicious Mohanthal.

Nilima’s Mohanthal

Ingredients

4 cups gram flour/besan
1 1/2 cups ghee + 4 tbsps ghee
1/3 cup milk
1 cup mava/khoya (if shop bought, then grate it )
3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon, coarsely grounded cardamom seeds
1/4 tsp or to taste saffron (crushed)
1/2 tsp. nutmeg pwdr
2-3 tbsps. finely sliced almonds

Method

1. Add 4 tbsps. of melted ghee to flour and mix nicely with a fork.

2. Add in the milk, mix thoroughly using a fork.

3. Sieve this mixture through a large holed sieve. The largers grains which are sieved through help to give the mohanthal a lovely grainy texture.

4. Heat the remaining ghee in a pan and stir in the flour. Keep stirring and cooking the mixture until the flour looks golden brown, about 25 minutes.  Please take your time with cooking the mixture – rushing it will burn the flour and give the mohanthal a dark colour and bitter taste.

5. While the besan mix is roasting, mix 1 1/4 cups water and saffron in the sugar and heat this mixture gently until it forms a syrup. The syrup should be of one-thread consistency . To check this – take a drop of the syrup and rub it between your thumb and first finger. When you separate the thumb and finger, the syrup should be thick enough to form a thin string.

6. Once the besan has roasted properly add khoya, cardamons, nutmeg and cook till the mixture turns smooth and khoya turns a nice brown color, about 5-10 minutes.

7. Once the besan/khoya mix is roasted, take it off the heat and add syrup gradually to the cooked besan/khoya mix and keep on stirring till the mixture turns thick, about 10 minutes.

8. When the mixture is thickened like cake batter, pour the mixture in a well greased 9 X 11 inch rectangular pan and level the surface using a flat spoon. Sprinkle the sliced nuts to decorate the mohanthal.

9. Let this cool down.   This could take several hours so leave it in a cool place. Then cut the mohanthal into small square shapes and store in air-tight container.

Nilima said an easier version of Mohanthal can be found on this link http://www.tarladalal.com/Mohanthal-14914r

Basil Pesto Sauce

This pesto sauce is a regular in my kitchen now. So far I have used it in 8 to 10 different types of
sandwiches, pastas, piadine, and shallow-fried potatoes. Making it is a breeze esp. if you have a small
food processor. I used the small bowl that came with my Cuisinart hand blender. Once you have all the
ingredients at hand, you will have your pesto sauce ready in just about 5 minutes.

2 Cups fresh basil leaves

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup walnuts or pine nuts

3 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup low-fat ricotta cheese

1/4 tea spoon crushed black peeper (Optional)

1/4 tea spoon red pepper flakes (Optional)

Lemon juice (approx. 1 tbsp)

1/4 tea spoon sea salt/ table salt

1. Place basil, walnuts and garlic in food processor.

2. Blend until almost smooth while gradually adding olive oil. (Approx. 1-2  minutes)

3. Add ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, black pepper and red pepper. Blend for 3-4 seconds.

4. Empty pesto sauce into a bowl and stir in lemon juice and salt.

5. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Aloo-Saag Dum

Here is a delicious twist on the dum aloo recipe. This recipe uses fresh spinach and yoghurt for the flavorful and spicy gravy. Potatoes are boiled and added to gravy and simmered on low heat until the masalas are nicely absorbed.  Ideal companion for this dish would be a hot buttery naan but for a busy Thursday night meal cooked at home, Khichadi will have to do.

12 baby potatoes, boiled in 6-8 cups of water
About 3 cups chopped saag/spinach
2-3 table spoon oil
1/2 tea spoon of chopped green chili
1/4 tea spoon of grated ginger
1/2 tea spoon coriander powder
1/4 tea spoon cumin powder
1/2 tea spoon garam masala
1/4 tea spoon red chili powder
3/4  cup sour yoghurt, whisked
About a tea spoon of Salt,  1/4 tea spoon turmeric, a pinch of hing

1. Boil or steam cook potatoes in a pressure cooker
2. In a pan heat oil and add 1/2 tea spoon of cumin seeds and hing.
3. Add chopped spinach, ginger, chili, and turmeric.
4. Saute on medium heat until spinach is coooked.  About 10 minutes.
5.  Add all the spices/masalas, mix well and cook further for about 5 minutes.
6. Add whisked yoghurt, salt  and 1/2 cup of water.
7.  Simmer the gravy on low heat for a few mintue and taste and adjust salt and other masalas to your taste. 5 minutes.
8. Add baby potatoes  and stir gently to coat them with the gravy. 8  minutes.

Note:
1. Sour yoghurt will give this curry a nice tangy and spicy taste.  If yoghurt is not sour, you can add 1/4 tea spoon of amchoor powder along with the other spices/masalas.

2. If potatoes are not too smalll, first steam them as usual and then cut each in half before adding to the gravy.