This is one the dish I love a lot, and have so many memories associated with it. When I would hear that my Lovely Mom has prepared Kaddu Ke Chilke Ka Salan for the meal tonight, I used to look forward for the meal so earnestly.

Two Bottle Gourds 

Bottle Gourd is a very humble vegetable. Not many people like it, and it is not a favorite of many people. But it is quite nutritious, delicious, healthy, and perfect for weight watchers! Its delicate nutty flavor provides a great taste to dishes. This particular recipe uses the peels of bottle gourd and it is one no-fuss yummy curry which you will all love.

Kaddu Ke Chilke Ka Saalan - Bottle Gourd Peels with Lentils Curry

Tip : While I the peel the bottle gourd, I take care not to peel it too thin if I plan to prepare this curry out of the Peels. I peel them about half a centimetre thick (about 5 millimeters). This is because a little bit of the flesh (magz) along with the peel gives a great taste to this curry. Usually I prepare this curry with Split Bengal Gram/Chana Dal but you can prepare it even along with Yellow Split Peas/Toor Dal. It truns out equally delicious.

Kaddu Ke Chilke Ka Saalan - Bottle Gourd Peels with Lentils Curry

Ingredients:

• Bottle Gourd Peels/Kaddu Ke Chilke - 400 gms, cut into small bite size strips
• Yellow Split Peas/Toor Dal or Split Bengal Gram/Chana Dal - 1/2 cup
• Tomato paste/Pasta Sauce - 2 tbsp or Fresh diced Tomato - 1 small
• Red Chilli Powder - 1 1/2 tsp
• Salt - 2 tsp or to taste
• Canola Oil/Sunflower Oil - 1 tsp
• Fried Onions - 1 cup

Method:

• Soak the dal in two cups water overnight(optional). Drain and Cook the dal in two cups water till they are soft but still can hold their shape well. Drain and reserve.
• In an another saucepan, put the cut Bottle gourd peel strips with around 3 cups water and a pinch of salt and let it boil once, then simmer it with closed lid until the peels are tender. This can take about 30 minutes. Or you can simply pressure cook for a little while.
• Later add your favorite pasta sauce or tomato paste or fresh diced tomatoes, red chilli powder, salt, oil and fried onions to it. Give a good stir.
• Gently add the cooked Dal and mix it well. Cover the lid and let it cook for 3-5 minutes. Keep checking it in between if it is sticking to the bottom of the pan. You can add a little water if it becomes too dry. Serve it hot.

Suggested Accompaniments:It tastes heavenly along with a warm Roti or a Paratha. I usually devour upon it just plain along with nothing!

 

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I will never forget what I went through on April 30, 2008, those moments of acute angst. It was one of the most dreadful days I had ever faced. Like everyday when I had logged into my wordpress account (I was posting an entry to Click-Au Naturel!) I noticed there were so many error messages saying that my ‘wp-posts’ and ‘wp-categories’ table has somehow suddenly crashed and they were all nothing but Greek and Latin to me. That gave me moments of panic and fearfulness, I was not able to post anything, my ‘entire blog’ had crashed and I had no idea how I would rectify the mess. It was all horrible. I quickly mailed some of my contacts including couple of bloggers and the company which hosts my blog and Wordpress for help. Everyone was with me supporting me and asked me to have faith. I had given up my hopes and thought I had lost it all, my blog, which I had built with deep and ardent affection.. all my love..

My hubby too was upset for me and he tried to help me by every possible way. At around evening, he opened my blog on a browser window and voila! my blog was all alive, and everything was working. When I saw that, my happiness knew no bounds and I was so happy, thrilled and relieved. I was all in tears and very gratuful to those who quickly worked on my blog. I pray and hope that no blogger has to face this ever in their life!

Right now I am so much more in love with my blog. I have put in so much effort to build up this website, which sort of defines me and is a medium to express my love for cooking with the world I live in. This is when I was thinking of the precautionary methods we all bloggers should be ready with every moment for situations like these and I found some very informative posts here, here and here. I request all the bloggers to always maintain a backup of their entire blog, a database backup and a backup of their actual blog on a very rugular basis, may that be daily, weekly, or monthly or after every new post they publish.

Anyways, Life is back to normal again, and I thank my God immensely. I had been to the grocery mart a few days back and saw these very beautiful looking Bottle Gourds and I quickly bought them home. I had not ever before seen such cute little brightly colored bottle gourds in my life. I was sending these to the Click - Au Natural Event yesterday when it all happened!

Two Bottle Gourds 

I was in the mood of experimenting in my kitchen and I searched my refrigerator for ingredients. I found some Halal Chicken Sausages, Frozen peas ..  and I quicky came up with this idea and it was one brightly colored and appealingly delicious curry. We had it along with Roti.

Khush-Rang Kaddu Ka Saalan - Bright Colored Bottle Gourd Curry 

Ingredients:

• Bottle Gourd - 1, approx 400 gms, peeled and cut into quarters
• Chicken Sausages - 4
• Frozen peas - 2 cups
• Canola Oil - 2 tbsp
• Dried or Fresh Curry leaves - 4-5
• Ginger - 1 inch, finely chopped
• Onion - 1, large, sliced thin
• Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
• Red Chilli Powder - 2 tsp
• Turmeric - 1/3 tsp

Khush-Rang Kaddu Ka Saalan - Bright Colored Bottle Gourd Curry 

Method:

• Pour oil into a saucepan at medium high heat and as soon as it warms up, throw in the sliced onion, as they begin to brown up, add the chopped garlic and chopped chicken sausage and curry leaves and stir fry it for a minute more.
• Add the quartered bottle gourd, salt, red chilli powder, turmeric and pour in some water and cover the lid. Let it cook until the bottle gourd is tender (You can add more water if needed, but do not add too much water, the curry should be pretty dry when done).
• Open the lid and add the frozen peas and let it cook for 5 minutes more. Taste and check it if the spices are adequate for your taste and add more if needed. Remove it from heat and Serve it warm.

Suggested Accompaniments:You can have these with any kind Roti’s for a filling meal and a cup of flavored yoghurt.

I’m glad I got my entire blog back and am very very thankful to my hosting company who worked on retrieving my blog and bringing it back to life and in action again! I’m thrilled!! 

 

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From many days I have been looking forward to write about this very good restaurant that I have recently discovered here in Toronto. I had been to this place a few days back, Eastern Twist, and I really loved the food there. Its a small restaurant and among all that I have tasted from that restaurant, I simply love the very long, almost a foot long Paratha Wrap. It has got all the goodness and is quite spicy. I usually get it packed and bring it along while returning for dinner. Its the best and the most delicious Paratha Wrap I have tasted ever. If you live in Toronto, you have got to visit this place and taste the food. You will love it.

The weather has not been good at all. Been playing games with us since the temperatures actually started to be in the two digits. Its has suddenly become so very hot, this being just the Spring in Canada and not Summer yet. Weather has been too topsy-turvy for the past two to three weeks, resulting in me catching Flu. It was terrible. Now I feel alright and thank my God for the good health again. It sure is a precious bounty, Good health.

I have not even been cooking since the past few days, but yesterday as I began to feel alright, I prepared Qaeema Matar Aloo and had it with some warm Phulkas. It was so good. Good home cooked food is always very comforting and gives solace.  

Qaeema Aloo Matar - Ground meat with Peas and Potatoes Curry 

For this recipe, you can use the ground meat of Veal, Lamb or Goat, whatever is available. It turns out equally delicious and I have tried this recipe with all the above mentioned meats.

Qaeema Aloo Matar - Ground meat with Peas and Potatoes Curry

Ingredients:

For Gravy:

• Canola/Sunflower Oil - 4 tbsp
• Onion/Pyaz - 3 medium, finely chopped
• Tomato - 1, large, chopped
• Red Chilli Powder/Lalmirch Powder - 1 tbsp
• Salt - 2 tsp
• Potato - 2, medium, peeled and quartered
• Tomato Ketchup - 2-3 tbsp (I use Heinz) OR Tomato Chilli Sauce - 2-3 tbsp

To Cook Qaeema/Ground Meat:

• Canola Oil/Sunflower Oil - 2 tbsp
• Qaeema/Ground Lamb/Veal/Goat meat - 700 gms, washed and drained
• Turmeric Powder/Haldi - 1 tsp
• Garam Masala - 2 tsp
• Soya Sauce - 1 tbsp
• Lemon Juice - 4 tbsp
• Matar/Frozen peas - 1/2 to 1/4 cup
• Shredded Cheddar Cheese - 4 tbsp (optional)

Method:

• Pour 2 tbsp oil into a non-stick heavy bottomed sauce pan at medium high heat and throw in the finely chopped onions as soon as the oil warms up. Keep stirring them until they are lightly browned.
• Add the chopped tomato, red chilli powder and salt and mix well. Let it cook until its mushy.
• Add the quarted potatoes and a little water and close lid for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and keep aside.
• In an another saucepan, pour the rest of the oil, and add the freshly washed ground meat and let stand for 5 minutes. Stir to break lumps and add turmeric powder, garam masala, soya sauce, lemonjuice amd keep stirring until the water starts evaporating and the raw smell of the meat wards off.
• Pour in the reserved gravy of tomato onions and potato and mix the whole thing together. Let cook on low heat and when the water has almost evaporated, add frozen peas and give it a stir.
• Garnish with shredded cheddar cheese, and serve hot.

Suggested Accompaniments:Serve it hot with Basmati Chawal / Naan/ Afghani Roti, along with a dollop of butter.

Tip: Leftovers? Use up this left over curry as the filling for Samosa for some very delicious Snacks.

 

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Idli is the most favorite breakfast item in India. They are steamed cakes of Lentils and Cream of Rice or Wheat. These soft and fluffy cakes which are rich in proteins and carbohydrates are prepared in many hotels, and restaurants almost every day for the morning breakfasts. It is a healthy and nutritious probiotic Indian breakfast.

Idlis in a plate with Sambar poured over them and served along with Coconut Chutney 

The Idli Rawa, which is the Cream of Rice or Wheat are available in any Indian Store. The Idli mould are also easily available in most of the Indian Stores, and are sold in almost every stainless steel utensils shop in India. The Idli plates in a Idli mould have depressions  to pour the batter in those. These depressions vary in sizes in different stores. I have a medium size Idli Mould which is perfect for my family.

To prepare Idli, i usually start its preperation from a day ahead. Like for example if i plan to prepare it on Sunday for breakfast or brunch, i start from Saturday morning. On the Saturday morning, i wash and soak the Urad Dal and before i go to sleep in the night i drain away the water and grind the dal well, then mix it with the washed Idli Rawa in a bowl and keep the bowl in a warm and dark place. I use equal amounts of Idli Rawa and Dal.

Idlis - Steamed Rice Cakes

Makes : approx 40 Idlis 

Ingredients:

• Urad Dal/Black Lentils (Split White) - 1 1/2 cups
• Cream of Rice (Idli Rawa) - 1 1/2 cups
• Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
• Salt -  1 tablespoon
• Canola Oil - to grease the Idli Plates

 Method:

(Note: Read the above instrictions before you proceed to prepare the Idli)

• Wash and soak the Urad Dal and in surplus water for about 6-8 hours. Wash the Idli rawa and keep aside.
• In a wet grinder, or a food processor, blend the Urad dal adding a few drops of water to aid in the blending to a very fine paste.
• Add this to the washed idli rawa in a large mixing bowl and mix them both completely. Add water to it to make a batter of a slightly thick consistency, it should not be too watery or too thick. Keep aside in a warm and dark place for it to ferment for about 8 hours or overnight.
• Later, when you see the bowl, the batter should have fermented well and the volume almost doubled. Add Salt and mix it well.
• Grease the Idli stand with a few drops of oil and pour about 1-2 tablespoon of batter in each depression in the Idli stand.
• In a large pressure cooker, pour water and put the stand inside, making sure the water does not touch the lowest idli plate in the stand. The water level in the pressure cooker should be well below it.
• Close the lid of the cooker and do not put the weight on it, pressure cook them for about 10 minutes.
• Once done, scoop the Idlies out with a tablespoon in a big serving bowl.
• Repeat this process adding water to the cooker as necessary until the batter is all used up.

Suggested Accompaniments:Serve them hot with Sambar, Coconut chutney, Hara Dhaniya aur Pudina Ki Chutney.

Tips:

1.  If you live in a cold place, you can add about half tsp of Baking powder to the batter before you keep it to ferment, and set the oven to 350°F. Keep the bowl inside. Later after 10 minutes, Off the oven keeping the bowl still inside till fermented well. This aids in the fermentation. If the batter has not fermented and doubled in size by next day, do not use it for Idli. Instead make Dosa out of it.
2. If you do not find Cream of Rice, you can even use Cream of Wheat as the Idli Rawa.
3. This is the basic recipe for the prepartion of Idli. You can alter it by adding a few chopped french beans, carrits, coriander leaves ..
4. Adding a dollop of butter to the idli while having them hot along with sambar makes it more delectable.
5. These Idli moulds are the traditional methods to prepare Idli at home. If you are somehow not able to find the Idli Mould, you can use little metal bowls which can be kept in a steamer or an egg poacher. I have however never used these. I only use the Idli Mould each time i prepare these. 

    

 

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Pasta is loved by everyone, and i believe it is one of those simplest one dish meals one can think of which is also everyone’s favorite for times when you have to serve the meal in less than 35 minutes. This is one such dish that i prepare using the usual ingredients and turns out to be a great hit with my loved ones.

This is my lovely Sisters recipe. She taught me this recipe and i prepare this along with any noodles that i have in my house. I also serve it along with Chicken Tikka, Salmon Tikka or Lamb Tikka. Children will especially devour upon it, and the elders too.  

Fettucine in Creamy Coconut Milk 

Coconut Milk here makes a creamy sauce giving it a rich golden colour. Its healthy and nutritious.

Fettucine in Creamy Coconut Milk  

Ingredients:

To Prepare Sauce

• Canola Oil - 4 tbsp 
• Onions - 2, thinly sliced
• Tomatoes - 1, large, finely diced
• Red Chilli Powder - 2 tbsp
• Salt - 2 tbsp
• Garam Masala - 1 tbsp
• Cornmeal - 2 tbsp
• Coconut Milk - 3 tbsp
• Light Cream - 1 tbsp
• Water - 2 cups approx
• Green Capsicum - 1, chopped
• Red Capsicum - 1, chopped
• Crimini Mushrooms - 100 gms, sliced

To Prepare Pasta 

• Fettuccine Noodles - 500 gms
• Water - 5.5 litres
• Salt - 1 tbsp

Method:

• In a heavy non-stick saucepan at medium high heat, pour in oil and as soon as it warms up, add the sliced onions and sauté them till they are light brown in colour. Add the chopped tomatoes, red chilli powder, salt and garam masala. Mix and let it cook on medium heat till the tomatoes are mushy.
• Transfer the mixture to a blender container and add cornmeal to it. Blend till pasty.
• Pour this paste back in the same pan and let it cook till oil seperates.
• Add Coconut milk, cream and water to it. Let it cook for 3 minutes.Throw in the chopped red and green capsicums and mushrooms. Bring to a boil at medium high heat.
• Meanwhile in a large saucepan , pour water and add the remaining salt to it. Bring it to a boil and add the pasta and stir until water again returns to a boil. Cook uncovered for 9 minutes stirring occassionally or until al dente. Drain.
• Mix the drained pasta with the prepared Coconut milk sauce in the saupan and cook on low heat for 3 minutes.

Suggested Accompaniments: Serve it hot along with Boiled halved Eggs, and sliced Black Olives, Chicken Tikka or Lamb Tikka or Salmon Tikka, Chicken Croquettes, Pan Grilled Chicken Mustard, Grilled Sweet Chilli Chicken.

I am sending this recipe all the way to Ruth for the Presto Pasta Nights she holds every Friday.

 

 

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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.

Tip:I usually get large sized cabbage whenever i got to the market. To store it, i shred and portion it the day i buy it. Then i put each portion into a ziplock bag and store it in the freezer for a long time, So that whenever i have to use it, i just take the ziplock bag, and drop the freezed shredded cabbage into the pan with other ingredients. There is no need for me to even add water here, as the freezed cabbage will already have lots of it. This is a simple method i learnt here and it makes my life easier.

Gobi Gosht - Cabbage with Lamb Meat  

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 - 1, medium-sized, finely shredded
• Lamb meat - 400 gms, washed and cubed into bite size pieces
• Red Chilli Powder - 2 tsp
• Salt - 2 tsp
• Turmeric - 1/3 tsp
• Canola Oil - 1 tbsp
• Onion - 1, small, finely sliced

Method:

• In a pressure cooker, pour oil, and as it gets warm, add the cubed meat and sliced onion. Keep stirring them once in a while and let cook for 5 minutes on medium heat until the meat is lightly browned on all sides.Add 2 cups water/vegetable stock and close the lid of the pressure cooker and let it cook for approx 8-10 minutes. Later, open the lid, and check the meat, It should be tender. If it has not yet been well cooked, pressure cook it again till the meat is soft.   
• Add the shredded cabbage, red chilli powder, salt and turmeric to the meat. Half cover the lid and let it cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes approx, until the cabbage is done. It should not become too soft and loose its shape. Keep a check, and add a few drops of water if needed while cooking the cabbage.

 

 

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