Egg masala

• 4 eggs, soft boiled (7 minutes), each made into chunks (in my case 8 pieces)
•  
• Red onions - 3, finely chopped
• Tomato - 4, finely chopped
• Jeera - 1/2 tsp, coarsely crushed
• Haldi -1tsp
• Chili powder - 1 tsp
• Green chillies - 5 slit
• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Kasuri methi - 1 tbsp
• Coriander leaves
• Salt to taste
•  

• Heat oil and add in jeera and green chillies. Add in onions and saute. When the onions are caramelised add in tomatoes, haldi, chili powder and salt. Cook for few minutes turning every now and then to prevent burning. Add a cup of water and simmer for 10 minutes. At this point it is back to semi dry gravy. Toss in chopped egg pieces and mix gently. Garnish with coriander leaves and kasuri methi. Yum!

 

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Kolmbo

Kolmbo, a konkan variation of Madras sambar with freshly roasted and ground masala with many other vegetables than the regular tomatoes and onions like that of idli sambar. This kind is mainly used as a lunch/dinner side and has marked as one of the main dish for a konkani lunch. The vegetables that goes in this dish are drumsticks/mashinga sang (a must), tindora/gherkins, brinjal/vaingaNa  along with the usual potatoes, tomatoes and onions and are not limited to the mentioned few. In my moms kitchen, carrots, beans and cauliflower are a staple in kolmbo but V thinks that English vegetable were not an addition in the authentic kolmbo. My childhood memories of kolmbo were all the vegetables I hated; stem of cauliflower & knolkol too. The ground fragrant masala is what matters here. All else is secondary, I say!

Kolmbo (this one has only batato ani mashinga sang), surai sheeth, miriye pappod, mirsange happol, batate happol

Ingredients:
Roast:
Oil 1 tbsp
red chillies- 8-10
chana dal- 2 tbsp
urad dal-2 tbsp
coriander seeds- 2 tbsp
jeera- 1 tsp
methi seeds- about 15
turmeric- 1/2 tsp
hing- 1/2 tsp

Grind the roasted ingredients with the following
1/2 cup coconut
1 sprig curry leaves
tamarind paste- 1tsp
salt to taste


Vegetables:
Drumsticks- rough skin peeled lightly
potato- 1 small, cubed
brinjal-4, quatered
pearl onions- about 15
tomato-2, finely chopped
cauliflower florets-about 2 cups
Tindora - about 10, quaterd
carrot -1 cubed

Seasoning: oil, mustard seeds,2 sprigs of curry leaves, 1/4 tsp hing.
cilantro for garnish

Pressure cook 1 cup of tuvar dal.
In a big stock pot, cook all the vegetables till half done, add the ground masala, tamarind paste and salt. Bring it to rolling boil. Simmer & cook till all the vegetables are cooked through. Add the seasoning and garnish with cilantro.
Serve with rice.

Roasted tomato soup

What would winter be without soups to warm us up.  A perfect soup according to me, is one that does not have corn flour for thickening, no color added  to beautify and simply unmessed with.
This one is one such kind.





With January being a national soup month &   with the icy weather we've been having,  its a perfect time to make some soul warming hot & savoury soup. A simple comfort in a bowl & (the roasted aroma of tomatoes should be a good enough reason)  saves me from camping out next to the stove to cook a big amchi meal on this lazy  Friday eve.




This pureed soup doesn't require any recipe to be followed. Ingredients are vaguely mesured and is pretty much of roast, puree, water down to right consistency, season to your taste kind. This one's off  of a magazine read  a while ago which I mentally promised to make it, as it had just a handful ingredients that gets all tossed in an oven, pureed in a hand blender, a sprinkle of paprika, done!
I wish I had the info handy to give the rightful credit for this quick to whip goodness. Here goes!

Ingredients
4 tomatoes (I had plum on hand), quartered
1 small onion, quartered
3 garlic clove, peeled
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 tsp paprika or pepper
2 shallots, finely chopped
Salad croutons and cilantro, optional

Method:
Line the sheet pans with parchment. Place the tomatoes, onion and garlic in the  baking pan.



 Drizzle with 1 tsp oil (reserve the other tsp of oil for seasoning). Sprinkle salt and  toss to coat. Bake at 350° for 1 hr. Turn sheet pan halfway once. Cool slightly.

 

In a stock pot, heat 1 tbsp oil, saute shallots




 add in the roasted tomatoes and a cup of water to puree in the hand blender.



 Add enough water to bring it to desired consistency ( I added 2 cups) and bring it to a boil.

chunky rich soup

Serve the soup with a dash of pepper, a piece of toasted baguette/croutons, romano cheese, pepper as much as you can take (mine's laced with pepper, just the way I like it) and cilantro.  Slurp away!

Gujarati Dal

 1 cup Tuvar dal

1 tomato, diced

 3 cloves garlic, crushed

1" stick ginger, crushed

3-5 green chilli, slit

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp jeera powder

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/4 tsp hing

2 tsp lemon juice

salt

oil

 curry leaves

coriander leaves

Pressure cook dal  with a tablespoon of oil & salt. Pour into a saucepan with 2 cups of water and bring it to a boil.  Simmer on low flame for 5 minutes.

Temper with heating oil in a pan,  add mustard seeds, hing , garlic, curry leaves, splutter for a minute add  tomatoes, turmeric powder, red chilli powder , ginger & all other spice powder and sauté until the tomatoes are soft. Add the tempering to the cooked dal. Squeeze lemon juice & garnish with chopped cilantro.

Aloo Mirch masala

This is one of my easy breezy side dish that is perfect for impromptu get togethers.
All the ingredients are readily available in an Indian pantry, to put together and make into a delicious side. Aloo can easily sustituted for paneer and made into Paneer mirch masala which has been added as a new favourite in my list. Enough already! Here goes.

Ingredients for ground masala:
1 small onion
1 tomato
red chillies 2-3
Garlic cloves 4-5
Ginger 1/2″ piece
Coriander seeds 1 tsp
jeera seeds 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
Chili powder 1 teaspoon
Garam masala powder 1/2 tsp
Cashews 10-15, soak in water for 15 mins

Onion 2, finely sliced
Potatoes 1, boiled, cubed
Capsicum 2, cubed
coriander leaves, finely chopped

Dry roast coriander seeds, jeera seeds and red chillies separately .Grind along with onion, ginger, tomato, garlic cloves and cashews to a paste.

Heat kadai with 3 tbsp oil. Fry sliced onions till translucent.
Add turmeric powder, chili powder, garam masala powder and capsicum peices. Saute for a few mins. Add ground masala paste and fry till the oil floats. To this add boiled potatoes, salt and chopped coriander leaves. Saute on simmered heat for about 5 more mins.
Best served with chapathis.

Guacamole

 Guacamole is a versatile & simple cool dish that is a quick to put together crowd pleaser. Finally, something that is good to the palette is actually good for you. Avocado ( read as good fat) for heart, onion for blood purification, tomatoes for a healthy glow. All goodness in one!

This side is no-brainer. I like to keep my dish simple & fresh using  avocado's that are firm but gives in whe are pressed gently, just ripe tomatoes, fragrant tender cilantro & crisp jalapenos. This creamy, smooth goodness makes you want to skip the chips & go straight to the dip!















Ingredients:
2 large avocados
freshly squeezed lime juice, 1 lime
1/2  red onion, finely minced
1 small ripe tomato, diced
1 jalapeno, seeded & chopped
10 stems cilantro, finely chopped
salt

Directions:
Seriously, you need directions?!
Chop  avocados into cubes and mash them very slightly with a fork. Combine all the ingredients in a serving bowl and serve along with salsa and tortillas of your choice.

Tawa Bhaji

Ingredients
2 big red onions
1 green bell pepper
1 medium potato
cauliflower florets
2 green chillies slit
1 tomato
1 inch pc ginger finely chopped
paneer cubes
2tsp kitchen king masala
1 tsp paneer makkanwala powder
1/4 tsp haldi
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp kasoori methi
cilantro for garnish
2 tbsp oil
salt to taste


Method
In a kadai, heat oil, add onion, fry potaoes cooked for a few minutes and add the spices and stir for a few minutes. Mix in rest of the veggies and paneer, saute to crisp the vegies, simmer and cook for a few minutes, covered. Garnish with cilantro and crushed kasoori methi. Serve with paratha/ chapathi.
G's note: there is no added water to this dish and the veggies have a slight crunch to them and not completely cooked.

Tomato saaru

A diluted spicy dish which is similar to rasam, except for omiting rasam powder.

Ingredients
Plum Tomatoes – 4
Green Chillies – 4, slit
mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
red chillies - 2 broken
curry leaves - 1 sprig

Oil
Salt to taste
Method
Heat about 3 cups of water and add chopped tomatoes and green chillies, salt and boil.
Cook for 10-15 mins.
Season with mustard seeds, red chillies and curry leaves.