Dahi Bhindi or Okra in yogurt curry

Okra, also known as “lady’s finger” or Bhindi in Hindi is one of the common vegetables in India. It has great utility in Indian vegetarian cuisine and it has some great nutritional value. You can make many mouth watering dishes with okra with very little effort. You must have prepared Bhindi Masala or Crispy Fried Bhindi etc before. But the same old okra in same old form tens to become a bit boring. Let’s break the monotony by preparing a comfort food with okra today. I am sure you will love this recipe.

Ingredients :

1. Okra (300 grams, wash them, dry them and cut them in to medium size pieces)
2. Curry Leaves (2-3 springs)
3. Mustard Seeds (1 teaspoon)
4. Cumin seeds (1 teaspoon)
5. Fenugreek seeds (1/2 teaspoon)
6. Asafoedtia (1 pinch)
7. Turmeric Powder (1 teaspoon)
8. Red chili powder (1 teaspoon)
9. Garam masala (1/2 teaspoon)
10. Oil (3 teaspoon)
11. Curd/Yogurt (1/2 cup)
12. Green chilies (2-3 sliced)
13. Gram flour (2-3 tsp)
14. Salt to taste

Method:

1. Add 2 teaspoons oil in a heated pan
2. Once the oil becomes hot, add the okras. Fry them in medium flame till they get softened. Keep them aside and switch off the flame.
3. For preparing the curry, add gram flour, curd, turmeric, salt, water in a bowl. Mix them properly and make a slightly runny sauce.
5. In a pan, and add oil and heat it up.
6. In the heated oil, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and let them splutter.
7. Add curry leaves, asafoedtia, green chilies and fry them for 1 minute
8. Add red chili powder and garam masala powder to this
9. Add the curd sauce to the frying masala. Keep stirring the sauce and make sure all the spices are mixed properly with the sauce.
10. Add little bit of water as per the thickness your prefer. Let it cook for 4-5 minutes
11. Add the fried okras. Cook it for 3-4 minutes more
12. Check the salt and adjust if required and remove it from flame.

Serve it with hot roti or chpati.

Enjoy.
Mo

 

Palak paneer(Cottage Cheese in Spinach Gravy)

Palak Paneer or Cottage cheese in spinach gravy is delicious and surprisingly easy to cook. This is a traditional North Indian dish, variations of the recipe can be found all over the county and even outside of India. It’s one of the most recognized India dish and easily available in Indian restaurants in India and abroad. Its easy to make, very healthy and absolutely delightful.

Ingredients:
1. Spinach (4 cups, washed)
2. Paneer (250 grams)
3. Green Chilies (4 pieces)
4. Mustard oil (4 tbsp)
5. Cinnamon Stick  (1 inch piece)
6. Onions (2, medium size, sliced)
7. Ginger paste (½ tbsp)
8. Garlic paste (1 tbsp)
9. Tomatoes (1 , medium size, chopped)
10. Coriander Powder (2 teaspoons)
11. Cumin Powder (2 teaspoons)
12. Turmeric Powder (½ teaspoon)
13. Red Chili Powder (1 teaspoon)
14. Garam Masala (1 teaspoon)
15. Salt to taste
16. Dry Mango Powder (½ teaspoon)
17. Milk or Cooking Cream (1 cup)
18. Dried Fenugreek Leaves (1 teaspoon)

Method:

Step 1:
Boil the washed spinach leaves with 2 chilies without lid on top. It will take 2-3 minutes. Remove the spinach from heat, drain the excess water and allow it to cool down. We will blend this and make a thick paste which will be used for gravy. For that, we will blend this in pulse mode so that there is some solid pieces or bits of spinach in the gravy.

Step 2:
In a pan heat 1 tablespoon of oil. Stir fry the paneer cubes until they become light golden brown on all sides. While frying, I have added pinch of salt and turmeric to give it a yellowish color; this is absolutely optional skip this if you want our paneer to be pristine. Add half a teaspoon of salt in a bowl of water and throw in all the fried paneer cubes in it. Once the paneer cubes are fried, they become a bit harder and it adversely affects the texture of the dish; if we put the paneer cubes into water, they will stay soft when we will use them later.

Step 3:
Heat the pan. Add 3 tablespoons of oil. In the heated oil, add the cinnamon stick, onions and a teaspoon of salt. Cook until Onions become translucent. Add ginger-garlic paste. Fry this until they become a bit brownish. Add chopped tomatoes and keep stirring the mix and make sure it doesn’t burn. Sprinkle some water if required. Mix properly until the oil comes out from the mixture and the tomatoes get caramelized. Add all the dry spices (Coriander Powder, Cumin Powder, Turmeric Powder, Red Chili Powder, Garam Masala, Dry Mango Powder). Mix everything well; add salt as per your taste. Your masala is ready.

Step 4:
Since our masala is ready, now it’s time to add the goodness of spinach.  Add the blended spinach to the masala. If the gravy becomes very thick, add a bit of water as per your preference. Cook it for 2-3 mints without the lid. Add a cup of full fat milk. In restaurants  they use cream, but i have used full fat milk. Give it a good mix. Crusg some dried fenugreek leavesand add to the mix. And sliced green chilies. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Your gravy is ready.

Step 5:
Now it’s time to add the king of the dish, the paneer cubes. Add the fried paneer cubes and mix them gently with the gravy.

Palak paneer is ready. Serve it with hot chapati, roti or nan.

Enjoy.

Mo

Panch-Mesali Chorchori or Bengali Mixed Vegetable

Panch-Mesali Chorchori is one of the most popular dishes in Bengal. It’s very easy to cook and really good to eat. You can prepare this dish with very less amount of oil, a few spices and varieties of seasonal vegetables; which makes this a very healthy dish. Panch-Meshali means combination of five; traditionally, this dish is prepared with five different seasonal vegetables. You can prepare this with whatever you have at hand.

Ingredients:
1.  Vegetables: potato, drum sticks, pumpkin, eggplant, green tomato and yardlong beans
2. One dry red chili
3. One or two green chilies as per your preference
3. Panch-Phoron* (one tea spoon)
4. Salt to taste
5. Turmeric (one tea spoon)
6. Cumin powder (one tea spoon)
7. Bay leaf (One)
8. Ghee (2 teaspoon, optional)
9. Cilantro
8. Mustard oil (Vegetable oil or olive oil will also do)

*Panch-Phoran is an authentic Bengali Spice Mix used in most of the Bengali vegeterian dishes. It includes Cumin seeds, Nigella Seeds, Fenugreek seeds, Fennel Seeds, Mustard seeds. We mix all these together and make panch phoron

Steps:
Heat oil in a pan. Add bay leaf, dry red chili and panch-phoron mix to the hot oil. Wait till the seeds crackle and add all the veggies. Sprinkle a teaspoon of turmeric. Cook this in high flame so that all the veggies cook  properly. Add some salt, cumin powder and give it a mix. Cover it with lid and cook for 3 minutes in low flame.

Remove the lid and add some water. Add the green chilies. Give it a good mix and cover it again for another 5 -7 mints. The dish is ready. At this point of time, you may and little bit of ghee which basically ads to the aroma and taste; but this is totally optional. Sprinkle chopped cilantro on top and you are ready to go.

Serve with steamed rice.

Enjoy.

Mo