Dum Aloo Subji

Hiiiii all,

After a short break, I am back with another mouth watering recipe of Punjab. Dum aloo subji.. This is actually a Kashmiri cuisine, but I have added onion, tomato, ginger, garlic etc, and prepared in Punjabi style. I got few fresh baby potatoes this time and wanted to try this dish immediately. I searched in internet for the recipe and finally found in Tarla Dalal's kitchen, but still have modified it a little to say the very "my own version".

I was totally excited to cook in my new ceramic pan. My co-sister always used to tell that it is very healthy to cook in a ceramic pan rather than a non-stick pan. So, this post is dedicated to my co-sister.

Hope you will try my way!!

Ingredients

For the onion paste:

• Onion - 1 cup, roughly chopped
• Ginger- 1 inch stick
• Garlic - 4 cloves
• Red chillies - 3 (or according to your spice preference)
• Fennel seeds - 2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1.5 tsp
• Cashew nuts - 1 tblspn
• Almonds - 1 tblspn
• Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
• Mint leaves - 6 big leaves

For Tomato paste

• Tomato - 2 cups, roughly chopped
• Water - 1.5 cups

For Sauteing the Potatoes

• Garlic - 2 cloves , minced
• Butter - 2 tsp
• Baby potatoes - 10 - 12 nos
• Salt - 1 tsp

Other Ingredients

• Cinnamon - 1 inch stick
• Cloves - 3 nos
• Cardamom - 3 nos
• Bay leaves - 1, broken
• Star anise - 1/2
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Curd / Cream - 1 tblspn
• Salt - to taste
• Honey / Sugar - 2 tsp
• Coriander powder - 2 tsp
• Cumin powder - 1 tsp
• Garam masala powder/ Kitchen king masala powder - 1 tsp
• Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) - 1 tsp, crushed
• Coriander leaves - To garnish

Method

For onion paste

• Combine all the ingredients under "For the Onion Paste" heading under the ingredients list in a blender and make it to a smooth paste. Add water while grinding. Make sure everything is blended well. No chunks of cashews or almonds should be found at the end. It should be really smooth.

For Tomato Paste

• In a vessel, bring 1.5 cups of water to boil and add the tomatoes. Cook till the tomatoes are mushy. Keep the heat in medium. It will take up to 10 minutes. 

• Cool it and blend it to a puree.

For Sauteing the potatoes

• Boil the baby potatoes. Do not over cook it. I gave it 4 to 5 whistles. 
• Peel the skin off the potatoes
• For the garlic butter, mince the garlic and add it to the butter. mix well.
• Heat this butter in a pan and add the baby potatoes. Keep the heat from medium to low and saute continuously making sure it is not burnt from any side. 
• Turn the sides for every half a minute. Make sure you get even cooking on all the sides as much as possible. 
• Once done, drain them using a kitchen towel and keep aside.

How to proceed?

• In the same pan in which you fried your potatoes, add  1 tsp oil and fry bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and star anise. Fry them for half a minute until a nice aroma is released.
• Add the prepared onion paste and salt. Cook them for 5-8  minutes or until the raw smell of onion, ginger and garlic is completely gone.
• Add the prepared tomato puree. CAUTION: The mixture will start spluttering in some time. So, be careful . Close the lid and cook for another 3 - 4 minutes. Add the crushed kasuri methi.
• Add all the spice powders ; coriander powder, cumin powder and garam masala powder. Add honey / sugar. Give it a good mix and pour the cream / curd.
• Now, add the shallow fried baby potatoes to this mixture. Close the lid again and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 5 minutes. Add water if you feel the gravy is becoming very thick. Adjust the consistency according to your preference.
• Check the seasoning and adjust accordingly.
• Turn off the heat and transfer to serving dish garnished with coriander leaves. Have this as a side dish for hot rotis, phulkas or pulao.

Notes

• I have used garlic butter to saute the potatoes as per our taste You can just use the butter, avoiding the garlic or even the oil.
•  Another choice is, you can deep fry the potatoes if you wish.

Cream of Asparagus soup

Hellllooooooooo,

I am here with a quick, healthy and delicious recipe today. Cream of Aspragus soup, as the name implies, not too much of cream is used in this recipe. I just replaced the cream with low fat milk, which tastes equally good and used the cream just for garnishing . Here I used white asparagus. You can use green or white, according to your wish. Recipe is same for both.
This is a very easy, healthy and a very tasty recipe with no vegetable broth, butter or oil. I just used few simple ingredients, yet it tasted great.. Moreover, asparagus itself has got a lot of health advantages and is extremely low in calories. It is loaded with Vitamin A, C, E and K.

Ingredients

• Asparagus - 10 nos + 1 to garnish
• Onion - 1 big, cut in to cubes
• Garlic - 6 pods
• Pepper powder - 2 tsp
• Mixed Italian herbs - 1 tsp (optional)
• Salt - to taste
• Low fat milk - 1/2 cup
• Fresh lemon zest- 1 tsp - to garnish
• Paprika powder- 1 tsp - to garnish
• Cream - 1 tsp - to garnish

Method

• Peel the outer skin of the asparagus, cut the woody ends and cut each of them in to 1/2 inch pieces. If you are using the green asparagus, you don't have to peel off the outer skin.
• In a pressure cooker, combine asparagus, onion and garlic. Add enough water and pressure cook for 3 whistles.
• Once the pressure comes down, allow it to cool and make it to a smooth puree using your mixer.
• Transfer this to a heavy bottomed vessel and bring this to boil. Pour the milk, add salt, Italian herbs and pepper powder. 
• Bring this to boil again and turn off the heat.
• Take 1 asparagus, remove the outer skin and cut the woody ends and cut them to 1/2 inch pieces. Boil them in water for 5 minutes or until soft, still not mushy. Keep it aside
• Transfer the soup to the serving bowl. Add the boiled asparagus pieces. Pour some cream over the top. Sprinkle pepper powder, paprika powder and lemon zest.
• Serve hot.

 

Aaloo Gobhi Koftas in White Gravy

White gravy is very popular in North India. These are very mild flavored when compared to other North Indian gravies and it will taste awesome with any koftas. These are very rich, creamy and delicious with extensive use of cashews, almonds, curds, cream, etc.

        I made my koftas very simple this time by just using potato and grated cauliflower. But if you wish, you can add paneer, khoya, grated carrot, grated beetroot, cashews, raisins  etc (Anything which are chopped finely).

Ingredients

For koftas

• Cauliflower - 1 cup, grated
• Potato - 1 cup, boiled and mashed.
• Coriander leaves - 2 tblspn, finely chopped
• Green chillies - 1, finely chopped
• Chilli powder - 2 tsp (or according to taste)
• Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
• Cumin powder - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Corn flour - 1 tblspn
• Milk - 1 tblspn
• Oil - for shallow frying

For the white Gravy

• Cashews - 1 tblspn
• Almonds - 1 tblspn
• Melon seeds - 2 tsp
• Onions - 1.5 cup , roughly chopped
• Ginger - 1 small piece
• Garlic - 3 cloves

Other Ingredients

• Cinnamon - 1 small piece
• Cardamom - 2 nos
• Cloves - 2 nos
• Bay leaf - 1
• Cream - 1 tblspn
• Curd - 1 tblspn
• Coriander - to garnish
• Chilli powder, Garam masala powder - to garnish (Optional)
• Salt to taste
• Sugar - 1 tsp (Optional)
• green chillies - 2 (Or according to your spice preference)

Method

For Koftas

• Heat some oil in a pan and add the grated cauliflower. Add finely chopped green chillies, salt, chilli powder, garam masala powder and cumin powder. Fry for about 3 to 4 minutes.
• Switch off the flame. Add the boiled,grated potato and mix well. 
• Divide them in to small portions. You should be able to form a ball out of it. If it is not possible, add little cornflour, knead well and make small balls.
• In a small bowl, combine cornflour and milk. The consistency of this mixture should be same as dosa batter. So adjust water accordingly.
• In a pan, heat some oil. Dip the potato cauliflower balls in the milk-conflour mixture and place them on the hot oil in the pan. Keep the flame in medium. Let it cook till it turns golden brown in colour
• Keep flipping the koftas to avoid burning and get even cooking on all the sides. Once done, keep this aside. 
• Alternatively, you can also deep fry the koftas. In that case, you can skip the step 1. You need not cook the cauliflower. Just mix everything and deep fry.

For the white gravy

• Boil water in a vessel and add cashews, almonds, onion, ginger, garlic and melon seeds.
• Let it cook in a slow flame for about 15 to 20 minutes. 
• Cool the mixture and blend it in to a fine paste. Make sure you don't get the chunks of cashews and almonds.Everything should be finely ground

How to Proceed?

• Heat oil in a pan and add bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. Fry them till you get a nice aroma. Make sure not to burn the spices. So keep the flame in medium.
• Add the onion cashew mixture, salt, sugar, slit green chillies and let it cook for 10 minutes, stirring it continuously in between. 
• Add whisked curds and cream. Switch off the heat after 1 minute.
• Now the arrangement. Place the koftas in the serving dish. Pour the white gravy on top of it. Garnish it with chilli powder and garam masala, also few coriander leaves.  Do not let the koftas sit in the gravy for long time. So, add the koftas into the gravy only when you are ready to serve.

 

Hows it??????