Mushroom Kurma

                               

Hello Guys

How are you all doing? Over the week end, I was looking for a one pot meal recipe for brunch and I remembered bookmarking this delicious looking Mushroom korma recipe by Nags from Edible Garden, sometime ago. I finally made it,  although I did not follow the exact measurements. Without further talking, here is how I did it.

To  fry and make a paste:

Onion – 1 large, chopped.

Tomato – Just ½ of a medium sized tomato, roughly chopped

Coconut - 1/2 cup chopped

Garlic Cloves – abt 8-9

Ginger paste – 1 tbsp

3 Green chilles and 1 dry red chilli

1 tbsp garam masala

1 tbsp coriander powder

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

Cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, star anise

                        

                  

Other ingredients:

Mushroom - 400 gms

Peas - 1/2 cup

Some curry leaves,

Heat a tbsp of oil and add the dry red chilli, some cloves, ¼ cinnamon stick and little bit star anise. Then add some coriander seeds and cumin seeds and fry till it leaves a nice aroma. Then add 3/4th of the chopped onions, fry for a few  minutes, add ginger paste, garlic paste, green chillies, and fry for few more minutes. Once onion turns translucent, add the chopped tomatoes. The add some salt, turmeric powder, garam masala, coriander powder and keep frying in medium flame till it completely cooks and the oil separates . Then remove it from heat, let it cool for some time, Then add ¼ cup chopped coconut to this and make a paste of everything together. You can add ¼ cup of water to this while blending it. Keep this separate.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan, once it heats, add some  mustard seeds and cumin seeds, once it splutters, then add some curry leaves, once that cooks, add the remaining chopped onions, some turmeric and remaining garlic cloves and fry till its cooked. Now add the chopped mushrooms and peas to it and fry it till mushroom leaves all the water.

                                     

Then add the paste to this and let it cook for some more time. And add ¾ cup water to it, adjust salt  and let it simmer and cook till the oil separates.

                                 

I served it with some rice and as Nags has mentioned this will make a tasty accompaniment for dosa/idli/roti etc.  Besides if you are anything like me, this can be eaten on its own as well :)

Kurma tasted so yummy and DH scored it 9 out of ten! :) Thanks Nags for the wonderful recipe!

                                  

Dahi Bhindi

Mor kulambu, Gujarathi Kadhi, Rajaasthani Kadhi, Dahi Bhindi! How many yoghurt based dishes and a lot similar in preparation! However twisting any of the above even a little, needs a name change!

I have adopted the dahi bhindi recipe from here. I guess I can blindly follow any recipe from this site and trust it will turn out fabulous!

To make this we need:

a tbsp coriander powder
a tsp cumin powder
2 tsp besan powder
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
1 1/2 cup think yogurt
salt to taste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
few chillies (green should be good, i had to use red though :()
cumin and mustard seeds for tempering
200 gms of bhindi, washed and dry (Pat dry with a kitchen towel, cut them into big pieces and fry in a tsp of oil for 3-4 mins. I also added a little bit of salt and a pinch of turmeric powder.. Leaves a nice aroma while frying)
1 big onion, chopped (The original recipe din't have this, Though I couldn't imagine this without onions, so...)

Method:

Heat some oil in a pan and add the mustard and cumin seeds, once the mustard seeds splutter, add the red chillies, onions, garlic and ginger and fry for a little bit.  Add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and besan powder and fry for a while.. Just till it leaves aroma.. Add the prepared bhindi, fry for a few mins and add diluted yogurt. Adjust the seasoning and cook for 10-15 more mins.. Serve with piping hot rotis or rice!

Malaysian Veg curry

I had been eating out in Malaysian and Thai recipes quite a few times in the past weeks/months and that inspired me to try this one. Especially I love the Pad see ew jay, Pad Thai jay and Thai green curry, besides this Malaysian veg curry. Original recipe can be found here


I should first mention that its not very authentic. I had to twist the original recipe to make it completely vegetarian and suit the available ingredients.


To make this we need:


To Grind:


Onion -  1 whole big onion, roughly chopped
few mint leaves
turmeric powder
red chillies according to taste, 1/4 cup chopped squash
2 green chillies
a tbsp of garam masala, 1 tbsp coriander powder, salt as needed
ginger - little more than what we normally use
Garlic - few cloves
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 tsp black pepper powder


along with oil and usual tempering ingredients


And vegetables: 2 cups of Soy chunks, mushrooms, carrots, butternut squash, all chopped and combined

Grind all the ingredients together to make a fine paste. Heat a pan with some oil and add the paste. Keep stirring till the oil separates, this might take a while. Then add all the chopped vegetables and also the coconut milk and some water. adjust the seasoning and cook till the veggies become soft and cooked.


This goes very well with steamed Jasmine rice!

Spinach in coconut milk!

I used to like spinach gravy so much.  My mom used to make it with ground spinach, tamarind and regular spices. But last few times I had that with rice, I felt the gravy had quite a strong flavor, may be the tamarind, and suddenly stopped eating it.

After a while, I twisted the regular gravy by adding some coconut milk minus the tamarind. It turned out really well and light and my OH and I had an immediate liking to it and I prepare spinach regularly this way on week ends. On one such week end, I had enough patience to click this pic before going for it!

Ingredients: 2 cups of coarsely chopped spinach, 1 whole onion chopped, 1 cup of coconut milk, salt, 1/2 tsp white pepper, 2 whole red chillies, 1 tsp red chilli powder, 3 cloves garlic and some cardamom pods and a cinnamon stick. some curry leaves, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, oil and some salt.

Heat some oil in a pan, and add some mustard seeds, once it splutters, add some cumin seeds and the cardamom and cinnamon pods. add the curry leaves and chopped onion and chopped garlic. Once the onion turns translucent, add some turmeric and red chilli powder and stir it till the onion starts turning slightly brownish. Add the ground spinach and let it cook for a few minutes. Then add the coconut milk, black pepper powder and adjust the spices. Cook till the spinach is cooked.

 Serve hot with rice!

Butternut Squash and Masoor Dhal Kootu

Oh Gosh, I really wish there had been more vegetables on earth! :) Yes, I easily get bored of cooking and eating the same vegtables repeatedly for curry/sabzi. If this was the case in India, imagine in Auckland. There are not much green vegetables here, all we get is the so called english veggies, beets, carrots, mushrooms, bell peppers and etc. P.S: bottle gourd, ridge gaurd, bitter gaurd, drumstick etc :(  I miss you all! 

So In my utter frustration I ended up picking this Buttercup(Butternut Squash?) from the supermarket which I 'd never even bothered to look at, back in India!

I tried making kootu using this and masoor dhal(red lentils) and it turned out yummy!

And yes, the natural colors looked really beautiful tempting me to click before cooking!



Masoor Dhal and Buttercup Kootu



Colourful Goodness of Buttercup and Masoor Dhal!

To make this you will need:  (Sorry, but the measurements are all approximate! )

Masoor dhal - 1 cup

Buttercup chopped into small cubes - 2 cups

1 Whole tomato

1/2 big onion chopped

redchilles, mustard seeds, few garlic cloves, few pepper corns, curry leaves, coriander powder, salt, oil, turmeric powder and some cumin seeds for tempering and seasoning.

 Here goes the reipe:

Pressure cook chopped butter cup along with  whole tomato(roughly chopped) and masoor dhal with salt, a tsp of oil and 1/2 a tsp turmeric powder.

In a pan, heat a tbsp of oil and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, cuury leaves and let that splutter. add red chillies and onion and garlic cloves. Once it is cooked add the cooked dhal mixture and add all the seasonings, adjusting to taste.

Serve hot with roti or rice. 

Served with Roti and Beetroot Radish Sabzi


Sending this to MLLA 36 contest, hosted by Susan and Aqua

Spicy Eggplant Gravy aka Yenna Kathirikkai Kolambu

Mixed Vegetable Kurma

Karela in tangy Tamarind sauce (a.k.a Pavakkai Pulikolambu)

- Recipe is yet to come! -