Baingan Bharta (Eggplant mash) - The Rustic Style

A creation that inspired me through one of the social groups. I liked it instantly and got up to make it. I was also a little biased as baingan bharta has been my favorite since childhood. Whenever I saw papa bringing those big eggplants home, I would be happy. I knew it was bharta time. I would eat a lot of it and sleep merrily. Those childhood days! 

The concept of roasting the eggplant fascinated me. So rustic and dramatic! The aroma of the roasting eggplant would fill the house. The process of making bharta felt like a celebration to me. Though, we always made it by roasting the eggplant and frying it in onion & tomato. This time, I made it in a more rustic style. I roasted the eggplant along with garlic and green chilly. Then, I just added salt, cumin powder and coriander to it. No oil and no frying involved.  It had a different taste and aroma.

I had it with ghee ke haath ki roti (a  variation of chapati that my mom makes and is delicious, will post the recipe soon), onion and curd. It was an amazing meal. I felt satisfied and happy that I tried it.

This preparation is very healthy as it does not have any oil and is not fried. The original recipe involves the addition of sesame oil as well. I skipped the sesame oil, though I am sure that would also taste nice. Our experiences with lebanese and turkish cuisines tell us that eggplant and sesame seeds/sesame oil goes well together. 

It is a simple recipe. Hope you guys enjoy preparing it. Take some time out from your busy day and feel the pleasure of roasting the eggplant. The color intensifies and the eggplant releases a different aroma in the kitchen. A treat to all the senses. 

Be careful while buying the eggplant. Tap it to check if it sounds hollow or too tight. If it sounds hollow you are good to go else avoid it. The ones which are too tight are full of seeds and will take ages to roast.

Baingan Bharta (Eggplant mash) - The Rustic Style

Recipe Adapted From: Baingan Bharta

Serves : 2

Level: Easy

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1. 1 medium sized eggplant

2. 5-6 garlic clove

3. 7-8 green chilies ( also depend on the bitterness of the chilly and your liking for spicy food )

4. 1/2 tsp cumin powder - Optional

5. fresh coriander - chopped

6. salt to taste

Steps:

1. Make about 5-6 slits on the eggplant. Stuff the garlic cloves and green chilies inside. 

2. Roast the eggplant on open flame. Check if done by pressing the eggplant using your finger. It will take about 10-15 minutes depending on the type of eggplant. 

3. Now remove the peel off the eggplant when it cools down a bit. 

4. Mash the eggplant along with the garlic cloves and green chilies.

5. Mix salt, cumin powder and fresh coriander to the mash.

6. Serve with chapati/naan/parantha.

Something worth a try! A different style of creating something you have been eating since childhood. Easy, healthy, homely and comfortable food. 

Sweet Bread Pudding

Somehow I have escaped making puddings. Today I made pudding for the first time ever. A group that I am a part of, had mentioned pudding as the weekly target. So pudding struck me maybe there. Also when you have never made something and you are trying to avoid it, it keeps coming back to you. The more you try to avoid it, the more it will cross your paths. And why do you need to avoid something? I ask myself a lot of time. Shouldn't you be more excited and open towards the things you have not tried? Well, ideally yes. But I am not a perfect being. I never was. In fact, I feel that I am a highly imperfect one. So much more room to improve and do things in a better way. Cooking is one of the mediums which tells me the same. Everyday whenever I cook or I see what other people have made, I realize the importance of learning and to the extent I still have to learn. 

Be always open to learn new things from whom so ever. This is what is going to shape your present and future and will later become your past. 

Yeah, so the post is about bread pudding. Puddings have always sound inviting to me. I started with a simple sweet bread pudding. I modified the recipe as per my liking and the result was very nice.

Bread pudding is a good way to use up lying around stale bread. So if you have some, get going with this simple and delicious pudding. It is very easy to make it and you can enjoy it in breakfast, dessert or to calm down your midnight hunger pangs. You can also add dry fruits, fresh fruits, rum, lemon zest, orange zest, brown sugar etc for extra taste and flavor. 

Bread Pudding

Baking Equipment: 9X7 baking tin/pan

Recipe adapted from: Sweet Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

1. 9-10 pieces (6 cups) of whole wheat bread (You can use any kind of bread that you like. Sweet buns, cinnamon rolls etc would add some distinctive taste and flavor. I though cooked with normal bread as I did not have any saved up bread)

2. 2 tsp vanilla extract

3. 1 tsp cinnamon powder

4. 4 eggs

5. 250 g granulated sugar

6. pinch of salt

7. 2 tsp coffee powder

8. 500 ml milk

9. butter for greasing

Steps:

1. Grease a pan with butter

2. Cut or tore the bread pieces into bite sized chunks

3. Place/arrange the bread pieces in the pan

4. Whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract, cinnamon powder, sugar, salt, coffee and milk together in a separate bowl

5. Pour over the milk mixture into the pan over the bread

6. Cover and refrigerate the pan for an hour or overnight so that the mixture is well absorbed by the bread

     (I kept it overnight)

7. Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius

8. Bake the pudding pan in the oven for about 45-55 minutes

    (Toothpick inserted shall come out clean)

Keep aside for sometime so that it cools down a bit. Serve hot. 

Absolutely warm, delicious, homely and comforting pudding. You may reduce the amount of sugar if you take desserts a bit on the lower side of sugar. 

Have fun baking and eating guys :)

Chicken Curry

It was time for some chicken for soul. I wanted something simple and it has been sometime that I had eaten chicken. There was lots of chicken kept at home and I had to finish it. I was travelling again and my sister is not comfortable cooking chicken.

I am in a train again and it's fun as always. The train journey gives you a lot of time. I watch movies, chat with friends, write, think and observe. Lately I have done so many journeys in train. They were all wonderful. :)

Back to the chicken curry.

This chicken curry is easy to make and taste wonderful. The chicken was well cooked, soft and juicy. The curry was delicious.

It is a quick fix and you don't need to marinate the chicken. It requires basic ingredients which everyone has (if you cook Indian curries). You can use this recipe (and replace chicken) for making other curries as well. Replace chicken with vegetables or prawns or whatever.

Here you go :)

Chicken Curry for Soul
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Makes for 2

Ingredients:
1. 3 tbsp oil
2. 1 tsp cumin seeds
3. 5-6 curry leaves
4. Whole spices - bayleaf, 1 -2 star anisse, 2-3 cloves, 2-3 black pepper corns
5. 1 tbsp  ginger garlic paste
6. 1 whole onion - chopped julienne
7. 2 chopped tomatoes
8. 2 whole chicken breasts - chop as per the size of your liking
9. 1/2 tsp red chilly powder
10. 1 tbsp coriander powder
11. 1 tsp turmeric powder
12. 1/4 tsp dry mango powder (or add yogurt to bring some sourness)
13. 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
14. salt to taste
15. coriander leaves to garnish
16. water

Steps:
1. Heat up a wok. Add the oil and let the oil warm up.
2. Add cumin seeds and whole spices. Let these roast.
3.  Add onion and fry for a few minutes (keep frying even after they turn translucent). Frying onion to a darker color brings in the color and flavor in the curry.
4. Add ginger garlic paste and mix well.
5. Now add all the spices. If using yogurt instead of dry mango powder, then don't add it yet. Fry the spices for a minute.
6. Add tomatoes and let them cook.
7. When tomatoes become squishy add the chicken.
8. Let the chicken cook for about 8 - 10 minutes. You can check if it is cooked by cutting a piece with knife.
9. Add yogurt and cook for a minute.
10. Add water as and when needed. Keep the curry as liquid as you want it.
11. Garnish with coriander and serve hot with chapati or rice.

The taste of the curry is amazing. It is a simple style curry which is the base for other vegetables as well. Whole spices and the ginger garlic paste add a different aroma to the curry. Cook the chicken well and rest all will turn out to be amazing automatically.

Happy cooking and eating guys :)

Vegetable Pulao (Tahri)

This is the first post in the quick recipes section. This is my mum's recipe :)

Vegetable Pulao (Tahri) is something I have been eating since I am a child. We preferred pulao whenever it was a holiday so that we could enjoy it hot. I think there was a time when we had it every friday as that was a day off for my paternal uncle.

Pulao is a simpler version of biryani. You can make it for dinner after coming back from office and eat it hot with some curd, pickle or papad. You can reduce the number or quantities of vegetables put as per your liking/time available/exhaustion level.

A good tip to cook faster is to chop the vegetables while you cook. Like while frying onions you can chop the other vegetables. It's faster that way.

So let's start with the recipe.

I will post for two hungry people who have come home after working for the whole day in the office.

Vegetable Pulao
Serves 2
Level: Easy
Preparation & Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients (you will need the ingredients in the order mentioned):
1. 2 tbsp oil/olive oil
2. 1 tsp cumin seeds
3. Whole Spices (1-2 clove, 1-2 black pepper corn, some bayleaf, 1 star anisse) - Optional

You can skip a few veggies or add more e.g. carrot etc. Even if I miss all, I don't miss the onions and tomatoes.
4. 1 red onion - chopped lengthwise
5. few cauliflower florets - broken/chopped into smaller florets
6. 1 chopped potato
7. 1-2 chopped tomatoes
8. 1 bowl green peas
9. 1 chopped green chili + chopped ginger

10. 1 tsp red chilli powder - As per taste, 1 tsp keeps it spicy
11. 1 tsp turmeric powder
12. 1 tbsp coriander powder
13. 1/2 tsp garam masala
14. 2-3 tsp salt - As per taste
15. 150 grams washed up/soaked up rice - fill up a small bowl, say a pudding bowl
16. water - Use the same utensil used for measuring rice and double the volume of rice is the volume of water you need
17. Chopped coriander - To garnish

Steps:
1. Heat up a pressure cooker. Add oil to it.
2. Add cumin seeds and the whole spices.
3. Add onions when the cumin seeds brown up. Fry till translucent.
4. Add the rest of the vegetables. Let them cook for 2-3 minutes.
5. Add spices and mix well.
6. Add water & rice. Close the lid.
7. Switch off the gas after two whistles.
8. Let the steam settle in and then open the lid when there is no more steam inside. This will ensure that the pulao is cooked properly.
9. Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot.

We had it with pickle and curd. It was an absolutely homely, filling and mouth watering meal.

Let me know how it goes for you. Happy cooking :)