Zaiqa

Todays meal consists of a simple comforting Turai ka saalan along with warm Phulka’s. 

Main Ingredients ~ Turai, Tomatoeas, Yellow Onions, Split Chana Dal

The split bengal gram/chane ki dal in this curry is cooked until it is just tender, but still holds its shape, and later allowed to cook furthur in the tomato-onion sauce of ridged gourd.

Ridged gourd, mainly an Indian vegetable, also called as Turai in Urdu, is mainly composed of water. When it is cooked in a tomato-onion sauce, it develops a delicious mellow flavor. Peel and discard the tough outer skin of Turai.

In some places, ridged gourd is also referred to as ‘Ribbed Gourd’.

Chopped and Peeled Turai

Baghari Turai aur Chane ki Dal ka Saalan – Split Bengal gram and Ridged Gourd Curry
Serves: 8 to 10

Ingredients:

Split Bengal gram/Chane ki dal – 1 cup
Canola oil – 2 tsp
Yellow Onion – 2, large, finely sliced
Tomatoes – 2, large, finely chopped
Salt – 1 tbsp
Red Chilli powder – 1 tbsp
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Cilantro – 2 tbsp, finely chopped
Green chillies – 3, small sized, each slit into two
Ridged Gourd/Turai – 6, medium sized, as shown in the picture

Baghari Turai aur Chane ki Dal ka Saalan

Method:

1. Soak the Chana dal overnight at room temperature, covered in surplus cool water in a bowl. The next day, drain and rinse the dal. Add the drained dal along with 2 cups fresh cool water and 1 tsp salt to a saucepan. Boil until the dal is just soft, but not at all mushy. Once done, remove the saucepan from heat and keep aside.
2. Meanwhile, wash the ridged gourd under fresh cool tap water. Pat dry with towels. Peel and discard the skin. Chop and discard the two ends and cut into quarters as shown in the picture. Keep aside.
3. In a pressure cooker at medium high heat, pour oil and as soon as it warms up, add the sliced onion and stir fry for 5 minutes. Once the onion is soft, add the chopped tomatoes, red chilli powder, salt, turmeric, cilantro, green chillies and stir well to mix. Cover with lid and let cook for 3 minutes. Add the chopped turai, and half cup water and pressure cook for around 5 minutes.
4. Add the chana dal with its water to the pressure cooker and cover it ajar with a lid, and let cook at medium heat for 10 more minutes or until the turai is tender. Serve immediately.

Suggested Accompaniments: Enjoy this simple vegetable+dal salaan with warm rice or roti for a delicious meal.

Luv,
Mona

Todays post features a simple yet delicious subzi-roti combination which I enjoy as a breakfast or lunch or a dinner meal.

Bottle Gourd curry/Kaddu ka Salan with Layered Flat Bread/Varqi Roti

Today I prepared Varqi Roti and simple Bottle gourd curry for our lunch. The procedure for Varqi Roti is simple and I have explained it using the pictorial tutorial below:

This is the procedure how my Grandmother/Nani used to prepare Varqi Roti for her husband, my beloved late Grandfather/Nana, who was a Tehsildaar, from the state of Lucknow, a great foodie and food enthusiast.

Varqi Roti – Flaky Flat Bread

Makes : 7 Rotis

Ingredients:

Durum Wheat flour – 2 1/2 cups
Water – 2/3 cup
Salt – 1 1/2 tsp
Canola oil – for cooking the Roti

Method:

The materials used to prepare any flat bread/roti are a Girda and a Belan. Girda is a flat wooden board on which the flat bread/roti are rolled using the belan, which is the rolling pin.  If you did not happen to buy a girda from your trip to India, use any flat wooden board available or a any clean flat surface like your kitchen countertop or a wooden cutting board. Keep a kitchen towel below the board to keep it steady while rolling the roti with the rolling pin.

Girda & Belan (Image Source – Internet)

1. In a bowl, add the flour and salt and mix well. Gently pour in water, a little at a time, to form soft dough.
2. Make golf sized balls out of the dough and roll it using flour into circles using a rolling pin on the flat wooden board.

3. Sprinkle flour on the rolled out roti and fold it as shown in the picture. Keep sprinkling flour after every fold. Follow these steps until it is folded into a rectangle.

4. Once it is folded into a rectangle, roll it out into a roti again.
5. Heat a cast iron flat griddle/tawa on medium high heat. Once it is hot, put the rolled over prepared roti on the heated griddle. Let it cook for a few seconds. You will notice small bubbles on the roti. Flip it with a rubber spatula or a flat spoon which you have and cook it on the other side again for a few seconds.
6. Now quickly brush the roti with oil with a silicone basting brush or usian a teaspoon all over, and flip it over. Again, working quickly, spead the oil over the other side too and flip it to cook that side. Line a platter with a papertowel and remove the roti onto the lined platter. Cover the roti with a kitchen towel until all are done to keep warm. Alternately you can also use a ‘Milton casserole/hot-pot‘ to keep the rotis warm.

Milton Products – An Indian brand for household items that is my personal favorite

Opo Squash, Tomatoes, Onion

Bottle gourd is an another favorite subzi which we all enjoy a lot along with Roti for meals. The plants of bottle gourd produce vigorous climbing vines and tendrils with fragrant white flowers. Ammi had a large bottle gourd plant during my childhood. Bottle gourd are a good source of choline and various minerals. It is a commonly used vegetable in India. They have a spongy white flash with white seeds in a fibrous center pith. This easily digestable vegetable has a kind of bland but delicious taste, so it is used to prepare both sweet and savory preparations.

Kaddu Ka Salan – Bottle Gourd in Tomato-Onion gravy

Ingredients:

Bottle Gourd/Opo Squash/Kaddu – 1, small sized (it came to around 770 gms of chopped bottle gourd after peeling)
Canola Oil – 2 tsp
Yellow Onion – 1, large, finely sliced
Tomato – 2, medium sized, finely chopped
Salt – 1 1/2 tsp
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Red Chilli powder – 2 tsp

Method:

1. Wash, peel and chop the bottle gourd into small pieces. (You can either discard the peels or store them to prepare this delicious curry) (Discard if the seeds are hard, but if the seeds are tender, use them in the curry)
2. Pour oil into a pressure cooker at medium heat and as soon as it warms up, add the sliced onion. Let it cook till it is light brown in colour. Keep stirring occasionally. Once the onion is soft and browned, add the chopped tomatoes and cover the lid ajar for 2 minutes.
3. Add the bottle gourd, red chilli powder, turmeric, salt and 1/2 cup water. Mix well and cover the lid and pressure cook for about 8-10 minutes or until the bottle gourd is completely cooked. Serve the curry warm.

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Voting for the Lok Sabha Elections in India ends and Congress wins with Dr.Manmohan Singh returning to power as the Prime Minister of India for the second consecutive time.
Congratulations India!

Luv,
Mona

This is one my family’s most loved dishes. Kofte ka Qorma is a tasteful dish in which the melt in mouth shallow-fried kofte/meatballs prepared from Shaami meat mixture are simmered in qorma, a spicy and fragrant yogurt masala gravy.

Kofte ka Qorma – Melt-in-mouth meatballs in a spicy fragrant sauce

There are usually two kinds of kofte/meatballs prepared. One type is that which is prepare from raw meat called as Kacche gosht ke kofte, in which raw meat marinated in spices and herbs are shaped into meatballs and later cooked to perfection in gravy; the other is the one which I am writing about today, when precooked delicate meatballs are simmered in gravy just before serving.

I prepare and store Shaami meat mixture in large amounts in zip lock sandwich bags and it lasts easily for around 3 months, but you store it for about an year frozen. I had earlier posted the method to prepare the shaami meat mixture here.

Round and small walnut size balls are prepared out of the cooked shaami meat mixture and shallow fried on all sides in a little oil. These are then left to simmer in the gravy. Be sure to add the meatballs just before you plan to serve them. If kept in the gravy to cook for a longer time before you serve, they may turn very soft and mushy as they already are delicate and velvety when shallow fried.

Kofte ka Qorma – Melt-in-mouth meatballs in a spicy fragrant sauce

For the Kofte:

Ingredients:

Makes 22 Kofte

Shaami meat mixture – 280 gms (the procedure to prepare Shaami meat mixture is given here)
Canola oil – to shallow fry

Right-Shallow fried Meat balls Left-Meatballs made from shaami meat
Behind – shaami meat in a zip lock sandwich bag

Method:
1. Take a small amount of the shaami meat and roll small walnut size balls out of it, gently between your palms. Continue until the entire mixture is finished. Arrange them all on a tray.
2. Shallow fry them in small batches in a small frying pan using a little amount of Canola oil until browned on all sides.

For Qorma (the masala gravy):

Ingredients:

Canola oil – 5 tbsp
Onions – 4, finely sliced
Yogurt – 400 ml, lightly whipped
Red chilli powder – 1 tbsp
Salt – to taste
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Ginger garlic paste – 1 1/2 tsp
Roasted Groundnut paste – 2 tbsp
Roasted Coconut paste/Coconut cream – 2 tbsp
Garam masala powder – 1 tsp
Chopped cilantro – 2 tbsp
Lemon juice – 1 tsp (optional)

Method:
1. Take a heavy bottomed non stick frying pan on medium heat and throw in the thickly sliced onion rings with no oil. Give them a stir and cover with a lid. Open the lid, and stir them again, add a few splaches of water and cover the lid again. Continue doing this until the onions are are caramelized and cooked. Transfer them into a blender container. Add the yogurt, roasted groundnut paste and roasted coconut paste/coconut cream and blend till it is a smooth puree.
2. Pour oil into the same pan, and add ginger garlic paste. Fry for a minute and add the pureed paste. Throw in red chilli powder, salt and turmeric and mix well. Cover and let cook for around 15-30 minutes on low heat until oil separates and floats on top while stirring occasionally in between. Add garam masala, chopped cilantro and pour in a about 1 1/2 glass of water and mix well (you can add more water if you prefer a thin consistency.) Half-Cover and let simmer for 8-10 minutes. Pour lemon juice and remove from heat. Serve immediately along with Naan or parathas or along with a Pulao or plain rice.

For the final curry preperation:

1. Just when you want to serve the curry, gently drop the shallow fried Kofte into the Qorma and bring to a boil. Simmer and let cook for 3 minutes.
2. Serve warm with Roti.

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I would like to ask the readers of my blog before I sign off for today ..
a) Are there any magazines, published in Hyderabad, showcasing local Hyderabadi food and recipes in English, Hindi or Urdu languages? If yes, please let me know which ones are your favorite?
b) Or in a larger picture, any good food and recipe magazines about authentic Indian food published in India?

My current favorite food magazine is ‘Everyday Food’ by Martha. Just loving it! It is not about Indian food though.

Luv,
Mona

Pulses are an essential component of Indians meals. They are the main source of protein and iron in an Indian diet.

Split husked Moong dal~Dhuli hui Moong dal and Tomato

Moong is one variety among the common Indian pulses. Whole Moong, as called as Green gram, in Urdu language is called as Hari Moong. These whole moong beans are sprouted to increase their vitamin C content and consumed in salads or sauteed lightly. Split moong with skin is called as Chilkon wali moong. And split husked moong, which I have used today to prepare this dish is called as Dhulli hui moong ki dal.

Tamatar-pyaz wali dhulli Moong dal
served with store bought warm whole-wheat Afghani bread

Split husked moong is oval shaped and pale yellow in colour. I love to prepare them this way in a tomato-onion mixture for breakfast as my Ammi used to do during my childhood.

Tamatar-Pyaz wali Dhulli Moong dal – Tomato-Onion flavored split husked Moong lentils

Ingredients:

Split Moong Da/Dhulli hui moong dal – 1 cup
Canola oil – 2 tsp
Onion – 1, finely sliced
Tomato – 1, large, finely chopped
Red chilli powder – 1 1/2 tsp
Salt – 1 1/2 tsp
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Cilantro – 2 tbsp, finely chopped

Method:

1. Wash and soak the split moong dal for about an hour in cool fresh water.
2. Heat oil in a saucepan at medium heat and add the sliced onion. Stir and cook until just lightly browned. Add the chopped tomato, red chilli powder and salt. Mix well and cover the lid and let cook for about 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally until the tomatoes are mushy.
3. Drain the dal and to the tomato onion mixture. Mix well and pour in 1 cup warm water. Cover and let cook until the dal is soft but not mushy. Add more water if needed. Once done, remove from heat, garnish with cilantro and serve warm immdiately.

This delicious dal is my entry to the event ‘Delicious Dals from India’ being hosted by Suma at her blog Veggie Platter.

Luv,
Mona

Sheekh kawabs are quite interesting and fun finger foods to prepare, and very versatile too. I love to mix and match and play with a variety of ingredients to flavor the sheekh kawabs and alter the tastes deliciously for a change. I had also posted an another version of sheekh kawabs a few months back. The main ingredients in todays version of sheekh kawabs are dhaniya/cilantro and hari mirch/green chillies, lending a faint tangy yet fresh flavor to them. These kababs are sure to whet your taste buds.

My lunch plate – Khushka with Khatti dal and Sheekh Kawab
(Plain boiled rice with sweet and sour lentil soup and Meat Kababs)

Marinate the meat in the spice mixture for atleast 6-8 hours or overnight for the best results, so that it absorbs all the flavors and the meat gets tender. One of my close friends S was telling me that she sun-dries the peels of very raw young papaya and once completely dry, powders them to store in jars in cool dark place at room temperature. It has a long shelf life. She added that she uses about a pinch or two of this powder as a tenderizer for the meat and leaves it to marinate for delicate melt in mouth kawabs. This I thought is a useful tip to share with my readers.

Sheekh Kababs – Minced meat Kebabs (II)

Makes: 15-18, enough for a large gathering

Ingredients:

Dry roasted and powdered Cumin seeds/Zeera – 1/2 tsp
Dry roasted and powdered Coriander seeds/Dhaniya – 1/2 tsp
Green chillies/Hari mirch – 8, roughly chopped
Lean Lamb meat (boneless) – 900 gms, cubed into bite size pieces (or) Minced Lamb/Veal meat – 900 gms
Thick yogurt – 2 tbsp
Chopped blanched almonds – 1 tbsp
Turmeric/Haldi – 1/4 tsp
Salt – 2 tsp
Red chilli powder – 1/2 tsp
Egg -1, large
Ginger garlic paste – 2 tbsp
Khoa – 1 tbsp
Raw papaya skin paste – 2 tbsp
Roughly chopped Cilantro/Kothmir – 1 cup, loosely packed
Lemon zest – 1/2 tsp

Kawabs ready to be grilled

Method:

1. Wash the meat and drain it well till all the water has been removed completely and the meat is dry. This is important or else the shape does not come out very well.
2. If using meat cubes, add the meat to a food processor along with all the other ingerdients and pulse just until the meat is minced. Do not make it into a paste. Transfer the minced meat into a mixing bowl and add all the other ingredients and mix/knead well using hands. If using minced meat, simply mix/knead it with all other ingredients until well combined in a mixing bowl. Cover and let it marinate in the refrigerator overnight for for minimum 2 hours.
3. The next day bring it back to room temperature. Dip your fingertips in a little canola oil and smear you palms with it. Take a large lemon size ball of the meat mixture in your hands and shape it into a sausage. Insert a metal skewer into it to make hole all the way through it. Enlarge the hole by rotating the kawab a few times around the skewer. Remove the skewer and place the kawab on a greased baking pan lined with aluminium foil. Keep repeating until the whole mixture is used up.
4. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the baking tray uncovered in the middle rack. Turn the kawabs once after 15 mins. Let cook for a furthur 15 mins. Serve warm.

Suggested Accompaniments: For a simple meal, serve these kawabs warm along with Khatti dal and Khushka. You could also serve it along with Dalcha, Baghara khana and a salad for a party meal, or simply along with a chutney as a snack.

Tip: Leftovers? Chop up the two Kawabs roughly and keep aside. Warm a pita bread, cut it onto halves, open it up and add some chopped fresh lettuce, cucumber, sliced avocado, tomato, and the chopped kawabs. Add a few drops of Chipotle hot sauce and some low-fat yogurt as topping. Serve these delicious pita pockets immediately.

Luv,
Mona