Dhaba style Aloo-Gobhi

 Nothing beats winter blues like comfort food like aloo gobhi..  

This recipe is supposedly Dhaba style. Here aloo and gobi is shallow fried before making the curry. I was not doing this before. I loved the fried taste of aloo and gobhi. 

Bottle gourd(Sorekayi) masala curry

 I always look for new ways of cooking Sorekayi(bottle gourd). Sorekayi sambar is something I don’t want to make. I don’t like the bland taste of it. So this recipe I tried is from a blog I follow on FB(link given below). The uniqueness of this recipe is bottle gourd is marinated before cooking. This gives bottle gourd so much flavor. 

This curry tasted and looked more like Andhra/ Tamil Nadu cuisine, then there’s garam masala too. It has a strong coriander flavor. I added more tomatoes to the curry which complimented the flavors very nicely. It is similar to dal-less gojjus from Karnataka. And most important thing - this  gets done in less than 30 min. Do try!

Don’t throw away peels and pulp. Make sorekayi chutney with it(link below).

Some other ways of cooking sorekayi -

• Bottle gourd chana curry
• Bottle gourd dal
• Bottle gourd peel chutney
• Bottle gourd Barta 
• Bottle gourd majjige saaru 

Dhaba Style Capsicum curry

 Capsicum curry - another dhaba style curry that everybody simply loved in my family. I  added potato extra which was not in the original recipe. Here is the link for Dhaba style bhindi masala. 

Looks like dhaba style curries use gram flour to get the thickness. I personally liked this feature of adding gram flour as it doesn’t affect the taste of the curry while giving it the creamy texture, secondly you get quite an amount of curry for couple of tbsp of flour. Do try! 

Lauki Barta/ Bottle gourd Barta

Presenting another extremely flavorful sabji/ curry made from bottle gourd. Everyone in my family just loved this. It goes really well with chapathi. Cooking procedure is similar to baingan barta. And it gets done quickly too. 

I got this recipe from a blog I follow on FB named Yum(link given below). Do try!

Aloo-Gajar-Matar Sabzi

Generally when you make North Indian dals or curries like chana/ rajma, you need a vegetable accompaniment to make it a complete meal. South Indian style sabzis(palyas) don’t go well with this theme, you need north Indian style sabzis. Aloo-gajar-matar fits the bill perfectly. My cousin Archana suggested me to try this particular recipe for its simple taste and easy execution. There is actually no masala in this except for tadka + ginger + green chilies, but this is sufficient to bring out all the vegetable flavors in the dish. My daughter just loved this and kept asking for more and more. 

Do try!   

Bhindi masala

Tried this bhindi masala from a new blog that I browse these days[link given below]. Curry came out to be extremely tasty and creamy. Goes well with both rice and chapathi. This apparently is made in dhaba style. 

Do try!

Chana Dal with Lauki(Bottle gourd)

Dals/ tovve are my favorite. I never knew that dal can be made with chana dal also. I’m also not too fond of bottle gourd in traditional south Indian sambars. This recipe is an amalgam of both, in good ways. Extremely tasty and easy. Have it with rice, ghee and pickle and some fryums(sandige) and enjoy your winter break! 

Do try!

Happy holidays! Happy New Year!!

Matar Paneer

Just like chole, matar paneer is another popular north Indian curry which is loved by everybody. I followed Vah chef’s recipe for this as all his north Indian curries come close to restaurant taste. This curry can be had with both chapathi/poori and fried rice. 

Do try! 

Rajma

Rajma - chawal - chapathi is my go-to menu for weekday dinners, as this is taste-bhi-helath-bhi(and easy-bhi) kinda recipe. My daughter and hubby love this. 

This rajma recipe, I found online, tasted very close to the ones available in the restaurants. 

This recipe doesn’t use rajma masala, but uses a concoction of powders easily available in your pantry. Very easy. Perfect for everyday cooking. 

Do try! 

Dal fry

Another simplest form of dal, Dal fry. It is made with moong dal, which is healthier, as in easily digestible. Just basic tadka + onion + tomato + garam masala + cooked dal - dal is ready! Tastes heavenly!

Serve it with a sabzi, you got yourself a wholesome meal ready in 30 minutes.

I got this recipe from a blog I follow on FB, which has many short and sweet interesting video recipes. 

Do try! 

Peanut-Capsicum Kurma

Capsicum always suits well in curries for chapathis. This recipe is from one of my favorite blogs, where in almost all the dishes I have tried have turned out good. 

Generally we use cashews to get the thickness in North Indian gravies. But this recipe uses peanuts! This gives a very unique taste and also a nutty taste in every bite. It turned out very tasty. And the second time I made, I added some panner cubes(not in the picture) as per my daughter’s wish. Even that tasted very good in the gravy. Do try! 

Baingan bartha - using oven roasted baingan

These days I am really hooked onto kannada serials. We had subscribed some Indian channels when my parents had visited. 

My mom was in the habit of watching these melodramatic serials, that specialize in storyline :) As my brother says, one cannot help but wonder what kind of a brain can come up with such stories. And then the story basically goes round and round in an infinite loop. Once in a while it goes in a tangent giving the illusion that it might end, but it would just start going in a different circle, this time a bigger one. Anyways, I had the time of my life making fun of these serials during my last visit to India and I was secretly hoping that I would enjoy it  equally this time around watching it with my mom. But my mom herself had given up watching these serials, saying that the storyline is getting worse by the day. The one serial in particular that I was making fun of, has still not ended, after 3 long years!! And guess what, the story is STILL THE SAME. A boy and a girl are married and nobody knows about it except these two, even after 3 YRS!  WOW!! Just so you know, these serials are aired everyday. That is (365-weekends) * 3 days. I must say, this kind of dragging is an art :)

Moreover by just watching the advertisements of these serials, you pretty much get the gist of what is happening. You don’t have to watch the whole serial. Still how so many seemingly intelligent people are hooked on to it, is a mystery to me. I was very intrigued to find out. Two new serials started right after my parents left. And I started watching them, you know, to solve the mystery :D 

I had warned my husband that if at all he wanted to remove the service, this was the time, before I start. But he wanted to keep the service for “cricket matches”. Now it’s too late. I am two months into these serials and there is no turning back. He has no choice, he has to watch it with me :) I can see myself getting pulled into it, curious to know what is going to happen today, but nothing happens, and I know what should happen. The thing that is supposed to happen, happens only after 2 or 3 weeks. So what happens everyday? basically nothing, but it is giving the illusion of something is happening. 

Now I think, I somewhat debugged how it is done. Basically you tell the story before hand. For example, in one of the serial I am currently watching, you are already let know, that by the end of a particular day, both hero and heroine are supposed to get married. Suppose that day starts today in “Serial Time”. Remember time is an illusion. 1 day of Serial time = could be easily 1 month of real time. It starts by people saying that something important is going to happen today. Then every 2-3 days(remember it is still the same day in Serial Time), there is a new twist, preventing that thing from happening. Then finally everything sorts out and after 3 weeks or so the day ends and they get married. So everyday people(like me) will turn on the serial hoping that the couple would get married today. But it’s postponed for tomorrow. I think that’s how they are keeping people hooked on to their channel. 

With this new found knowledge, I plan to watch further to see if it can really keep my interest going or it’ll just die down soon. I’ll keep y’ll updated :)

Coming to the recipe, 

Since I no longer have gas stove, I had stopped roasting eggplant for certain dishes. But roasting is roasting. The taste of the dish drastically changes by this one procedure. This particular recipe oven roasts eggplant. And the job was less messy compared to roasting it on the stove. The dish turned out lip smacking. Do try!

Mixed Veg Curry - Restaurant Style

I had tried this Mix veg curry long time back. It turned out very creamy and tasted just like in restaurants. I used frozen mix veg bag along with some other cut vegetables, to increase the volume. This dish is perfect for feeding a crowd. Relatively quick, filling,  uncomplicated and tasty!

Do try!

Palak Paneer

I’ve tried palak panner many times from many websites, but nothing came close to the ones available in the restaurants. With my daughter’s growing taste buds, I wanted her to try out various Indian delicacies. This girl who wouldn’t even touch the tip of the spoon which touched palak paneer for its green color(it’s a different story that I still force-feed her a few teaspoons), started showing interest in various Indian curries, including palak paneer, in restaurants. That gave me an incentive to try out this dish at home again. 

Vahrevah is a trusted website for these kind of dishes. Any dish from this blog has never disappointed me. I like all the tips and tricks Vah-chef gives. His palak paneer was no exception, it turned out very good. 

The only drawback is, to make a small quantity(a little over what is seen in the pic below), I used the whole box of spinach from Costco. So this is not exactly something you should consider when cooking for a crowd. 

Do try!

Tomato Dal

Here’s a restaurant style dal, which my friend actually got from a restaurant chef. Simple dal, tweak a little, and you’ve got an extraordinary tasting, restaurant quality dal. 

Dal is my favorite comfort food. 

Dal + Rice + Ghee + Papad + with the side of pickle = heaven! simply heaven!!

This goes well with plain rice or jeera rice. 

Do try!

Easy Cauliflower Curry

Okay, I’m out of my cooking slump. I must’ve tried at least 10 new dishes in the last month. All came out well. Hopefully this cooking “josh” continues. 

I came across this recipe online and was very impressed with the simplicity of this dish. It tastes good and can be made in no time at all, well almost. It goes well with rice and chapathi. 

Do try! 

Corn Capsicum Curry

Life’s become busy... doing what? can’t tell for sure :) There is nothing in particular I can account for, just busy running errands, daily chores, being a soccer mom, setting up a routine for daughter’s homework and MAKING SURE SHE FOLLOWS IT!!  

A spring break thrown in the middle didn’t help much either. It’s funny how children when home = all your free time spent on them. Blogging has taken a back seat. I am not trying out many new recipes lately. Whatever little I try, I am not finding the time nor energy to set up and wait for the pictures to be taken by hubby. Anyways break is over and we are slowly crawling back to our routine.

I was digging out my drafts to see if I can post some of the old dishes I tried. I found this capsicum corn masala. Even though the masala used is pretty common among many north indian curries, addition of corn makes it taste slightly different. And corn makes it likable by kids too. It goes really well with Chapathis and fried rice. Do try!

Gobi Sabji (Gobi ka kheema)

This is one flavorful sabji that goes really well with Chapathis. I enjoyed every bite of it. 

Grated gobi gives this a very spongy texture, and when cooked in spiced tomato puree it soaks up all the masala making every bite burst with flavors in your mouth...

You can either use simple tomato puree or make spiced tomato puree for this. I would suggest making the spiced one as that little extra nuance from the spiced puree makes a lot of difference. 

This is not a quick recipe. Grating gobi is a tedious and a messy job. It tends to fly everywhere. Making spiced tomato puree is also extra work. But the end result is very well worth the effort. 

Do try!

Navratan Kurma

Navaratan Kurma is a rich, popular North Indian curry. I like the rich, creamy, sweet taste of this curry. But this particular recipe tasted more like Thai red curry.. may be because I didn’t use any sweet-giving ingredients, such as pineapple/raisins, as I didn’t have any.. 

Otherwise, I followed the recipe as it is...

Green Peas Curry

This is yet another North Indian style curry that goes well with rice as well as Chapathi. The procedure is fairly easy, though a little time consuming. This recipe is from one of my favorite food blogs Jeyashri’s Kitchen. I’ve only added few paneer pieces which was not in the original recipe. 

Do try!