Zaiqa

Its been drizzling here since the last few days, bringing everything that was in sleep back to life.

Frozen Moment #6 – April Showers

I was craving for some deep fried pakodas. During a recent visit to the grocery market, I had bought a beautiful green cabbage which was lying the refrigerator waiting to be cooked up into something delicious. It was so large that after making some gobi gosht for the meal, there was enough left to make a few pakodas.

cabbage batter

We enjoyed them along with tea in the evening today.

Bund Gobi kay Pakoday ~ Cabbage Fritters
(Note: Cabbage is called as Bund Gobi or Patta Gobi in Urdu language)

Ingredients:

Thinly Sliced Cabbage – 4 cups
Ajwain – 2 tsp
Red chilli powder – 2 tsp
Salt – to taste
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Besan – 1 cup
Corn fluor/Rice flour – 1/4 cup
Water – 1/2 cup

band gobi kay pakoday ~ cabbage fritters

Method:

In a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients and mix well using hands. Heat oil to deep fry in a kadai. Once the oil is hot, gently drop small amounts of mixture using your fingers into the hot oil. Deep fry them on both sides until golden brown in color. Using a slotted spoon remove into a paper towel lined platter or into a wire mesh strainer for the the excess oil to drip away. Enjoy the pakoday along with chutney.

Luv,
Mona

Indo-Chinese cuisine is every Hyderabadi foodie’s favorite. Infact all Indians love this fusion food. You are bound to come across many small Indo-chinese restaurants and food stalls at every corner in Hyderabad.  

Spring Rolls

Spring rolls are an another appetizer items that is predominantly being seen at the menu tables at most of the Hyderabad weddings nowadays. I for one like this finger food immensely and miss those that are served at the Hyderabadi weddings. They are so delectable and have a unique taste.

These spring rolls are my take on them. They are simple to prepare and enjoyed as a snack by all age groups. They can also be served at Iftaar during Ramadhan.

Spring Rolls

Makes-22

Shredded carrots – 3/4 cup
Shredded green cabbage (I used ‘Taiwanese cabbage’) – 1 cup
Shredded cooked boneless Chicken (or) finely diced cooked Shrimp (or) cooked Minced meat/Qimah – 1 cup 
Spring onion stalks – 3
Salt – to taste
Black pepper – 1/4 tsp
Egg wash -1 egg, lightly beaten along with 1 tbsp water
Thawed Spring rolls wrappers – store bought
Canola Oil – to deep fry

Clockwise from top – Taiwanese green cabbage, carrot,
green onions, shredded chicken

Method:

-In a large pan, pour 1/2 cup water, and add the shredded carrots, cabbage, spring onions and chicken/shrimp/qimah. Cover and let cook for 8 minutes. Drain and reserve the water for later use. Put the drained vegetables in a bowl, add salt and black pepper and toss to mix well.

Pictorial tutorial to help you wrap up a Spring roll

-Gently seperate the spring roll wrappers from the pack. Place a wrapper on a flat surface with a ponited edge towards you. Keep the rest of the wrappers under a dampened towel. Place about 2 tbsp of the filling in the lower third of the wrapper. Moisten the edges with egg wash. Fold the bottom of the wrapper up and over the filling to enclose it and form a cylinder. Fold the right and left sides of the wrapper into the middle. Then roll the wrapper tighty up to the top. Make sure the roll is tightly sealed and the filling completely enclosed from all sides. Arrange them all, seam side down on a platter. Continue making the rolls until the filling is completely used up.
-Deep fry the prepared rolls in hot oil until lightly browned. Serve them once cooled along with your favorite dip.

I am sending these rolls to Sunday Snacks-Grab and go event and Meals on Wheels event.  

Luv,
Mona

Gobi Gosht is one of those very regular dishes that are prepared and had at many Hyderabadi households. It is simple to prepare, and is healthy enough. There are many other ways to prepare this very simple vegetable that is mostly disliked by so many people because of the strong aversion to cabbage some people keep.

Green Cabbage, halved

In this recipe, you can use, either Vegetable Stock, or Lamb Meat stock instead of water while cooking for more flavor.

Gobi Gosht – Cabbage with Lamb Meat

Ingredients:

Cabbage/Band Gobi – 1, medium-sized, finely shredded (I prefer green cabbage than white cabbage)
Lamb meat, with bone – 600 gms, washed and cubed into bite size pieces
Red Chilli Powder – 1 tbsp
Salt – 1 tbsp
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Canola Oil – 1 tbsp
Yellow Onion – 2, small, finely sliced
Chopped Cilantro – 2 tbsp
Chopped green chillies – 2 tbsp

Gobi Gosht – Cabbage with Lamb Meat

Method:

1. In a pressure cooker, pour oil, and as it gets warm, add the cubed meat, sliced onion, ginger-garlic paste, red chilli powder, salt and turmeric powder. Add water to cover the meat and pressure cook until the meat is tender.
2. Add the shredded cabbage, chopped cilantro and green chillies and half cover the lid. Let it cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes approx, until the cabbage is done. Keep a check, and add a few drops of water if needed while cooking the cabbage.

Luv,
Mona

Pasta and left overs go well with each other. Especially when we homecooks, dont feel like being in the kitchen for longer times. I had many left over cut vegetables and some chicken in the refrigerator, so I thought of preparing a simple one dish meal adding pasta to it.

Spiral Veg-Chicken Pasta

You can enjoy this it at lunch, dinner or even at breakfast. You can even pack it in a lunch box and have this healthy and filling meal for lunch. Here goes the recipe:

Spiral Veg-Chicken Pasta

Serves : 3

Ingredients:

• Canola Oil – 2 tbsp
• Chicken breast pieces – 250 gms, cut into 1 or 1 1/2 cm cubes
• Yellow Onion – 1 cup, finely chopped
• Ginger Garlic paste – 1 tsp
• Baby Carrots – 3/4 cup, sliced thinly
• Green capsicum – 3/4 cup, chopped
• Red capsicum – 3/4 cup
• Cabbage – 3/4 cup
• Tomato Paste – 1 tbsp
• Water – 2 cups
• Maggi Chicken Bouillon-Halal -2 cubes
• Dry roasted Coriander seed powder – 1 1/2 tsp
• Cilantro – for garnish
• Spiral pasta – 250 gms

Method:

To Prepare the Pasta Sauce-

• In a pan on medium heat, pour oil and put the cut chicken pieces. Stir fry it for 5 minutes.
• Now add the chopped onion. Fry it till it is translucent in colour. Then add ginger garlic paste and stir it well for 2 minutes or so.
• Add all the cup vegetables and sprinkle a little bit of salt over it, maybe a big pinch, just to enhance the colour of the veggies. Stir fry the contents in the pan for about 5-7 minutes. Then add the tomato paste, water and the cubed chicken stock. Break the cube once it softens up and mix well.
• Cover the pan so the the chicken and vegetables soften up and absorb the flavours. The pasta sauce is ready.

To prepare the Pasta Dish-

• Prepare the Spiral pasta according to the instructions on the package.
• When you drain the pasta once it is done, reserve a cup of water and drain off all the remaining pasta water.
• In a bowl at medium heat, pour the earlier prepared pasta sauce, the reserved cup of pasta water, and the drained pasta.
• Mix well to coat the pasta with the sauce. Cover and simmer for about 2 minutes.
• Sprinkle with fresh coriander powder and garnish with fresh coriander/cilantro leaves and serve hot.

This recipe goes to Ruth hosting Presto Pasta Nights every friday, with the theme as to send her pasta recipes every week. I really liked her theme and the idea because, i cook pasta every weekend, and i look forward to try out different and new recipes of pasta dishes everytime. Her blog will surely help me 🙂 Thanks Ruth !

Interesting Read: Do you know your pasta shapes?

Luv,
Mona