Hurried cooking...

Today went to the park with my son. Going to the park is like a major event. For one the timing is never right with my son. He takes an afternoon nap and usually gets up at 5pm. Park (the only decent park) is half an hr drive from where I live and since it is very cold nowadays and gets dark sooner going there after 5 is not desirable. Not to mention the traffic at that hour. I will be stuck in traffic for almost an hr.
So today when he awoke at 3:30 pm I thought to make the most of the time and take him to the park. The result being that I did not start cooking till nearly 6pm which left me very little time to do anything. When in a time crunch and I have paneer and I always end up making paneer bhurji. Either that or egg bhurji. These two are really quick recipes that do not take much time and is high on the taste quotient.
Today's menu Paneer bhurji and bhindi fry.

Paneer bhurji, Bhindi fry and Greens fry

I think I have already given the recipe for the Paneer bhurji previously.

Hurried cooking and even more hurried posting!!!
See you guys tomorrow then!

Go(ur)d! What a day!!!

Looked in the refrigerator for inspiration to strike me and was rewarded with a stale looking lauki (long melon, Chinese melon, bottle gourd). I was bored of eating it the usual way of either making them into koftas or a sabji. So looked for some recipes on the internet and came across the stuffed version on Tarla Dalal's website. So today's menu was Bharwan Lauki (Stuffed bottle gourd) as per Tarla Dalal's instructions, Tindora (Indian Ivy Gourd) Fry and the ever present greens.
You must be wondering what is it with me and greens... Well, I need to eat as much greens and sprouts and fresh veggies and proteins as I probably can to save my crowning glory! I am losing them like the there is no tomorrow. My hair loss saga will take up a blog of its own!!

Tindora fry, Bharwan Lauki and Greens

Anyhooo, here is the link to the Bharwan Lauki recipe.
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Bharwan Lauki

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This post is a short one! See y'all tomorrow!

Poori Day!

I wanted to cook a full meal today but mum made some puris for breakfast. She gave me so many that I ended up having a poori (full) day of puris!!! She had given me some potato sabji for the morning but it got over so I made some additional sabji in the evening for dinner.

Poori bhaji

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Aloo bhaji

5 potatoes chopped into cubes

3 dry red chillies

1 tsp of cumin seeds

1 tsp of ajwain seeds

1 tsp of turmeric pd

A pinch asafoetida pd

Salt to taste

Heat oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds and when they splutter add the ajwain seeds. Now add the asafoetida pd and red chillies broken in to small pieces. Then add the potatoes and saute for a minute. Now sprinkle some water and cover and cook till soft. Add the turmeric pd and salt and saute till well incorporated. That's it.

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Till tomorrow then!

Wishing everyone a new year of cooking well and eating well..

Hope everyone had a great beginning to the new year. I will begin mine by catching up on my posts. I have about two days (31st Dec I cooked, 1 I did not cook - lunch at moms and dinner at in-laws, yesterday I cooked and today I did not - it is my b'day after all!!) worth of cooking to catch up on my blog.

So without further ado, he we gooo....
31st Dec had Chapati Kofta Curry and Jaipuri Bhindi (ladyfinger)

Chapati Kofta Curry, Jaipuri bhindi and greens stir fry

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Chapati Kofta Curry

I concocted this recipe to use up my leftover chapatis. (I also use the leftover chapatis in a indo-chinese stirfry - recipe I will post sometime later)

3 leftover chapatis ground to a powder

2 potatoes boiled

3 onions chopped

2 tomatoes chopped

1 tbsps ginger garlic paste

1 bay leaf

1 cinnamon stick 

2 cardamom pods

1 tsp cumin seeds

1tsp turmeric pd, cumin pd and coriander pd

Salt, chilli pd to taste

First knead the ground chapati, potatoes and turmeric, coriander, chilli and cumin pd with salt to form a dough-like consistency. Shape them into balls and shallow fry them till brown and crisp. These can be eaten as is with ketchup and will taste great. 

Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds and after they have spluttered add the whole spices and saute till they release their aromas. Add the onions and ginger garlic paste and saute till they turn brown. Then add the tomatoes and saute them till they also turn mushy. Cool and grind this to a paste. Return this paste to the fire and add turmeric and chilli pd and simmer till they are cooked. Now add the chapati kofta balls from before and simmer for 5 mins more.

Jaipuri Bhindi (got the recipe from New Woman magazine - Dec issue)

500 gm bhindi slit lengthwise into thin strips

2 tbsps suji (semolina)

2 tbsps chilli pd

salt to taste

2 tsps coriander pd

2 tsps besan (chickpea flour)

2 tsps chaat masala

Sprinkle all the spice powders, salt and besan except chaat powder on the julienne bhindi and rub it all over till they are well coated. Saute them in a little oil till they turn crisp. You will need to do this on very low flame to prevent the spices from getting burnt. Make sure you do not turn the bhindi over or mix them too much for the first 10 mins as they will turn crispier faster. The actual recipe calls for a deep fry of the bhindi pieces. Since I do not deep fry anything I have opted to saute them instead. After the bhindi is crisp take them off the heat and sprinkle chaat masala and mix and serve.
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2nd Jan had Cabbage with Groundnut sabji and Tomato daal

Green stir fry, cabbage with groundnut powder and tomato daal

 I think I have given the recipe for the above in one of my earlier posts so I am going to skip the recipe for this one.

See you all tomorrow then! Cheerio!