Aloo choliya
So many of us have childhood memories of peeling the pods and consuming straight the seeds inside called choliya or green chickpeas. Some people used to roast the stems containing pods over fire and get roasted chholia. Besides eating them raw, here is a recipe of choliya curry combined with potato.
Recipe of aloo choliya
2 medium aloo (potato) - peeled and cubed
150 gms choliya (hara chana/ fresh green chickpeas)
2 tomatoes
1 onion
1 inch piece ginger
3-4 cloves garlic (optional)
2 green chillies
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
A pinch of hing (asafoetida)
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp red chilli powder (cayenne pepper)
1/4 tsp garam masala powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tbsp oil
choliya (fresh green chickpeas)
1. Grind together onion, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and green chillies into a smooth paste.
2. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add cumin seeds. When they change color, add hing.
3. Add onion-tomato paste and all the spices and salt. Fry till oil begins to separate.
4. Add choliya and potato. Add 2 cups of water and close the lid of the cooker. Pressure cook to 3 whistles. Serve aloo cholia hot with roti or rice.
Healthy Bytes- Chickpeas are a good source of Zinc, Protein and Folate. They are high in dietary fiber and low in fat. Chickpeas are good for diabetics.
Ven pongal (khara pongal)
Today being Sunday, we ate heavy breakfast. By afternoon, we wanted to eat something light and easy on stomach. I made ven pongal or khara pongal for lunch. Usually ven pongal is made for breakfast but it was our lunch today. Ven pongal is a type of moong dal khichdi except that the seasoning is different.
Recipe of ven pongal/ khara pongal
1 cup rice
1/2 cup dhuli moong dal (split, skinless green gram)
1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
1 tsp ginger paste
6-7 black peppercorns (kali mirch) - crushed coarsely
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3 1/2 cups of water
Lightly fried or toasted cashew nuts for garnish
1. Wash and soak rice and moong dal together for 10 minutes. Drain.
2. Heat ghee in a pressure cooker and add cumin seeds. When they change color, add ginger paste and crushed peppercorns. Fry for 1 minute.
3. Add rice and dal and stir fry for 1 minute.
4. Add water and salt. Pressure cook for 4-5 whistles.
5. Garnish ven pongal with fried cashew nuts and serve hot.
Ghugni
Ghugni is a Bengali version of chole or ragda. Here I have used chickpeas but green peas or matar is also used for making ghugni. In Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Assam, ghugni is usually eaten as an evening snack. It is also a popular chaat and street food.
Recipe of ghugni/ ghoogni
1 cup kabuli chana (chickpeas/ garbanzo beans)
1 onion- chopped
1 tomato- chopped
1 bay leaf (tej patta)
1 black cardamom
1 green cardamom
2-3 cloves (laung)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 1/2 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
1 onion- cut into rings for garnish
1. Soak the kabuli chana overnight. Drain.
2. Pressure cook chana with water for 25-30 minutes.
3. Heat oil in a kadhai/ wok. Add bay leaf, cloves, cumin seeds and cardamoms. Let them splutter.
4. Add onion and sauté till light brown.
5. Add ginger-garlic paste and sauté for 1 minute.
6. Add tomato and rest of the spices and salt. Cook till oil begins to separate.
7. Crush a handful of chana and add along with rest of the boiled chana.
8. Boil on a high heat for 3-4 minutes. Lower heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Cook till you get the desired gravy consistency.
10. Garnish with onion rings and serve ghugni hot with either roti, luchi, poori or rice.
sooji halwa in microwave
Sooji ka halwa is a popular Indian dessert which is usually made in a kadhai (wok) or a pan. Here I would like to share a recipe in which sooji halwa is being cooked in a microwave in easy steps. Try it and let me know if you found it any different from traditional sooji ka halwa in pan.
Recipe of sooji ka halwa in microwave
1 cup sooji (semolina/ rawa/ suji) - roasted
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup ghee (clarified butter)
1/4 tsp green cardamom (elaichi) powder
Nuts like cashew nuts and raisins- to garnish
2 cups milk
1. Take a microwave safe bowl and place sooji and ghee in it. Cook on High for 2 minutes.
2. Add milk, sugar and cardamom powder and mix. Cook covered on micro High for 3 minutes.
3. Garnish with chopped nuts and serve sooji halwa hot.
bedmi puri
Bedmi puri along with aloo ki sabzi (potato curry) is a popular Uttar Pradesh breakfast. You can also have them in ‘Chandni Chowk’ in Delhi. You can also prepare bedmi aloo for Sunday brunch. They are simply delicious.
Recipe of bedmi puri
2 cups atta (whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup dhuli moong dal (split, skinlesss green gram)
3 green chillies
1/4 tsp garam masala
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 inch piece ginger
1 tbsp oil + for deep frying
1. Soak moong dal for 2 hours. Drain.
2. Grind together moong dal, green chillies, ginger, salt, coriander and garam masala powders in a blender.
3. Take atta in a bowl and add moong dal paste along with 1 tablespoon oil. Knead using water as needed. Cover and keep aside for 1/2 an hour.
4. Take lemon sized ball out of the dough and flatten between palms. Roll out on an oiled surface into 3-4 inch round.
5. Heat sufficient oil in a wok/ kadhai. Gently slide the rolled out bedmi puri in the oil. Press gently with a slotted spoon (pauni/ chhari) so that poori puffs up. Turn over and fry from other side also till golden in color. Drain using the same slotted spoon on an absorbent paper so that excess oil is absorbed.
6. Serve bedmi puri hot with aloo ki sabzi.
Homemade pizza
Everyone in my family prefers homemade pizza over readymade pizza. Not only it’s economical but far healthier and you can control how much cheese or butter goes in it. It doesn’t take much long to prepare pizza at home if you have ingredients at hand.
Recipe of homemade pizza
Makes 2 pizzas
2 ready made pizza bases
Tomato sauce
1/2 cup tomato puree
4 garlic flakes- chopped finely
3 tomatoes- chopped finely
1 tsp oil
1 tsp dried oregano
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper- to taste
Topping
1 onion- chopped
1 tomato- pulp removed and chopped
1 capsicum (bell pepper) - deseeded and chopped
A few slices of jalapenos
200 gms mozzarella cheese (pizza cheese) - grated
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1. To prepare the tomato sauce, heat oil in a pan and add garlic. Stir for a few seconds and add all the ingredients for sauce. Bring it to a boil. Lower heat and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook till sauce thickens and can be spread without being runny. Turn off the heat.
2. Spread olive oil or melted butter over each pizza base covering the edges.
3. Spread tomato sauce over pizza base.
4. Sprinkle some grated cheese over each base.
5. Sprinkle the vegetable topping.
6. Sprinkle left over cheese. Drizzle some olive oil.
7. Bake at 180 degree C OR 350 Degree F for 15 minutes or until golden and crisp. Serve pizza hot.
jeera rice
Microwave is very good for cooking rice. Earlier I blogged about cooking plain rice in microwave. I also have one blog post about jeera rice in cooker. You can check them out and compare which one is suitable for you.
As far as jeera rice is concerned, it’s very flavorful and tasty.
Recipe of microwave jeera rice/ cumin rice
1 1/2 cup basmati rice
2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)
1. Wash rice and soak in water for 1/2 an hour. Drain.
2. Take a big microwave safe bowl. Put ghee in it and add jeera. Cook uncovered, on High for 30 seconds.
3. Add rice, salt and 3 cups of water. Mix well. Cover with a micro safe lid or a cling film through which some holes have been pierced.
4. Cook for 13 minutes on High.
5. Let it stand for 5 minutes. Serve jeera rice hot with some curry or vegetable.
bhindi raita
Bhindi raita or okra raita is a South Indian style raitha where it is also called ‘Vendaikai Thayir Pachadi’. Small sized bhindi is good for this raita. For those of you who have never tried bhindi raita, all I can say is do try it, it’s very delicious. You can also call it okra salad in yogurt.
Recipe of bhindi raita/ okra raita
100 gms bhindi (okra/ lady’s fingers) - cut into small pieces
2 cups dahi (curds/ yogurt) - whisked
4 tbsp + 1 tsp oil
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1 dry red chilli
1. Heat 4 tbsp oil in a pan and fry the okra. Keep aside.
2. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and dry red chilli. When they splutter, remove.
3. Add fried bhindi, salt and above tempering of mustard seeds and red chilli to the well beaten yogurt. Serve okra raita chilled.
sooji kheer
Sooji kheer or suji ki kheer is an almost instant dessert. Today after lunch, I was craving something sweet so within no time, I prepared sooji ki kheer and polished it off as quickly. This kheer can also be called as ‘Rava Payasam’. Sooji ki kheer is also good for infants as it is very light to digest.
Recipe of sooji ki kheer
1 liter milk
3/4 cup sooji (rava/ semolina/ suji)
1/2 cup sugar
A big pinch cardamom (elaichi) powder
Few threads of saffron
Chopped and toasted nuts like cashew nuts, raisins etc.
1. Dry roast sooji in a heavy bottomed pan (kadhai) over medium heat till light brown. Soak the saffron threads in 1 tablespoon milk.
2. Bring the milk to boil. Add sooji little by little, constantly stirring with other hand so that no lumps are formed.
3. Cook over high heat till the mixture begins to thicken. Add sugar and cardamom powder and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add saffron and mix well.
4. Garnish with nuts and serve hot or cold.
bajre ki roti
Bajre ki roti is made a lot in Rajasthan. They eat it with a piece of gur and it is liberally smeared with pure ghee. Initially you may find it difficult to make bajre ki roti by patting between your palms so I have shown an easier way by using polythene bag or plastic sheets. This way even a novice can make bajre ki roti.
Recipe of bajre ki roti
1 cup bajra atta (millet flour)
Salt to taste
Ghee (clarified butter)
rolling out bajre ki roti
1. Mix bajra atta with salt. Add warm water little by little to knead bajra flour into medium soft dough. There is no need to knead the dough too much.
2. Take a ball from the dough, wet your palms and pat this ball between your palms to make 4-5 inch roti. OR alternately tear a polythene bag into 2. Place 1 half on the rolling surface and place the ball on it. Cover it with the 2nd half of polythene bag.
3. Roll it into as thin round as you can. Remove the above polythene, take the roti on your right hand removing from the lower polythene.
4. Place it on a hot non-stick griddle (tava). Cook bajre ki roti from both sides till browned.
5. Remove it from the tava and smear it with ghee. Serve bajre ki roti hot with some gur (jaggery).
