Green, Red and White !!!

Beet root and spinach fryJ.

Who said beetroots are consumed as salads only-or added in cutlets?

We can make a delicious and colorful dish out of it.

A combination of red and green color looks appealing to the eyes too :) .

It’s delicious and very healthy too.

Now the ingredients.

Grated beetroot                                                          1 cup

Spinach (finely cut)                                                     1 cup

Mint (cut roughly)                                                        2 tbsps.

Green or whole moong *                                            1 cup.

Grated coconut Or dry coconut powder                     ½ cup.

Oil                                                                               2 tbsps

Onion (cut into small pieces)                                      1large.

Ginger garlic paste                                                     1 tbsp

Green chilies (slit lengthwise)**                                1 or 2(depends                                                                                        on the spice level)

Mustard seeds (semena hořčice)                                1 tsp

Cumin seeds (římský kmín)                                        1 tsp

Turmeric powder (kurkuma prášek)                            ½ tsp

Coriander Powder (koriandr prášek)                          1 ½ tsp

Chili powder(optional)**                                             ½ to 1 tspn

Garam masala powder                                                ½ tspn

Curry leaves                                                               1 string.

Before the actual cooking-

1. Please boil the green moong or whole moong. It should not be over cooked. If you take a grain of boiled moong –you should be able to mash it between your fingers with some effort. Don’t worry if it’s slightly over cookedJ.

*You can use yellow moong dal instead (dear Czech friends as we don’t get moong dal in Ostrava-I tried with Green moong which is available in TESCO etc).

If you are using moong dal-Just soak the dal for ½ hour and no need to cook beforehand.

2. Please keep the ginger garlic paste ready.

3. Cut the onion, spinach and Mint (Mata) ready.

Let’s start cooking.

Place the pan in medium flame and pour oil in it. When the oil is warm add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When it crackles add the finely chopped onion and sauté it well.

When its translucent, add the ginger garlic paste and sauté till the raw flavor goes.

Add the green chilies ** (if you don’t have green chilies please avoid this step)

Add curry leaves and sauté till onions are slightly colored.

Add haldi (kurkuma powder).

Then after mixing add the boiled moong or soaked moong dal with a pinch of salt.

Cover it with lid.

It will take two minutes for the moong dal to cook. If you are using green moong (as it’s already cooked) keep it in the closed pan for 4 minutes.

Now add grated beetroot and close it with lid. As the beet root are grated it will cook in less than 5 mnts.

Now it’s time to add the greens (spinach and Mint).After adding the greens, please don’t cover the pan with lid. It will cook in 5 mnts.

Now it’s time to add coriander powder, chili powder**(add chili powder if you are not using green chilies)and garam masala powder.

Stir it well and then garnish it with grated coconut or dry coconut powder.

Enjoy the colorful recipe in flat 15 mnts time if your ingredients are ready. It will take  30 mnts to cook the dish.

Goes very well with chapatti, rice and can be a stuffing to your sandwiches.

Before serving add a dash of lime juice to render a tangy flavor.

Add some Spice to Life with Tomatoes - Tomato Pickle a.k.a Tomato Thokku

First of all thank you all for the shares, comments and likes for my first recipe.

Thank you for the encouragement shown to proceed with the second recipe.

After the sweet why not something spicy?

Let’s try Tomato Pickle.

Dear Czech friends-

Don’t get perplexed when I say spicy. You can adjust the spice level by reducing the quantity of chili powder.

All the recipes I am posting are tasted by my Czech friends and the recipe is drafted based on their feedback :-)

So please try it as the tomatoes are available in plenty now and many might have picked lot of tomatoes from your kitchen garden and must be thinking as to what to do with it.

Here you go.

Tomatoes                                 1kg

Red Chilli powder *                        2 tbsps

Salt                                       As required

Sugar                                     1 tbsps

Asafoetida (hing powder)                   ½ tsp (optional).

Fenugreek powder                         ½ tsp (pískavice řecké seno semena)

Curry leaves                               a string

Tamarind **                               a small ball rolled between your fingers

Turmeric powder                           ½ tsp

Mustard seeds                             1 tsp full (semena hořčice).

Oil                                        6 tbsps full

As a usual practice we should prepare ourselves before cooking the dish.

 Half an hour before the actual preparation put a big bowl of water to boil and when it reaches the boiling point reduce the flame and add the washed tomatoes into it. After two minutes switch off the gas and cover the vessel with a lid. See to it that all the tomatoes are immersed in the water. Don’t mind if the water is more. Better safe than sorry.

After 15 minutes you can see the skin of tomatoes peeling out .Drain the water and remove the skin of the tomatoes and keep it ready.

   If you don’t have the fenugreek powder in stock-Dry roast 1 tbsp of the same and powder it and keep it ready. You can even dry roast a handful of the same and store in an air tight container for future use.

**Juice of tamarind to be used when the tomatoes are not tangy. Here in Ostrava it’s very tangy so no need to add the juice of tamarind. I did not add any when I prepared the dish for my friends.

*For the friends in Ostrava –please use sladký paprika powder and the red chilli powder equally.

*For other friends –if you have sambar masala powder add ½ measure of sambar powder and half measure of red chili powder. Of course the choice is yours:-)

Now we start with the real cooking.

Use a high neck vessel with thick bottom and add oil in it. Always start with the low flame as you will have control on temperature.

Use of pan to be avoided as the juice of tomatoes will splatter all around. So, please, use a high neck vessel or pressure cooker.

When the oil is warm add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. When the mustard seeds starts to crackle add the hing powder.

Now add the peeled tomatoes with salt,turmeric powder and chili powder.

Stir it well.

Now let the mixture cook in a medium high flame. When the tomatoes starts to cook and leaves lot of juices,reduce the flame to medium and stir it well. Allow it cook till the water evaporates and the mixture gets mushy like a paste.

Now add the thick extract of tamarind juice and stir it occasionally so that the mixture does not burn.

At this stage check the salt and the chili level .If you want your dish to be spicier add chili powder to your requirement.

Cook the pickle till the oil oozes out from the sides and there is absolutely no juice in it.

Now add the sugar and the fenugreek powder.

Please be careful while adding the fenugreek powder. Don’t add more as it will give a bitter taste to pickle.

Usually it takes 30 minutes to cook. It depends on the juice content in the tomatoes. So go with the consistency rather than time.

Switch off the gas and stir the mixture well.

Allow it to cool and store it in a bottle or any air tight container. It can be refrigerated for longer shelf life.

You can use as a spread for the bread, chapatti, or with rice and dal or simply add it with steamed rice.

Yummy tomato pickle is ready.

Enjoy!!!

Sweet Nothing aka -KAJU KATLI

Sweet beginning.

Let us start with a sweet - Kaju katli (cashew burfi)

Generally Indian sweets are considered as too sweet by the Czech.

As the name goes the main ingredients are cashew and sugar but with little amount of Indian flavor with cardamom powder.

Cooking is always an experiment.

You try and when you see the outcome is perfect your heart is filled with joy.

In this fast world if I have to catch your attention with my first dish, it would better not consume too much of your time.

All you need is just 30 minutes.

Keep the ingredients simple and sweetJ

Cashew                       1 cup (~125 gram)

Sugar                         ½ cup

Water                         4 to 5 tablespoons full

Cardamom powder             1 teaspoon

A little bit of preparation goes a long way; so keep these prepared and ready.

Powder the cashew. Cashew releases some fat (oil) when you grind –be careful when you powder it.

Put the mixer in whipper mode and stir the cashew powder in the mixer often.

It will not release fat and the cashew powder will be dry and fine.

Now keep a flat plate greased with ghee (melted butter)

Keep the cardamom powder ready.

Keep a small bowl of water to check the sugar syrup.

Take a non-stick pan and add sugar and water to it.

Put the flame in medium and let the mixture boil.

Stir it constantly and when there are bubbles on the syrup put the flame to simmer.

How do we know that the syrup is ready to receive the Cashew and Cardamom powder?

·        Take a small drop, drop it into a bowl of water – if the syrup forms patterns on the surface instead of dissolving immediately – it is of the right consistency.

·        Another way to check is to check the consistency by pinching it between your fingers – this is too subjective and is actually painful as the syrup is hot – choose which you like. J

Add the powders to the syrup and continue to stir

Do not allow lumps to form

A low flame will help in stirring it into a smooth mix.

A small portion can be extracted and checked for its readiness. If you are able to roll it into a soft ball without it breaking apart – you have been successful! J

Switch off the burner. Transfer the dough to the flat greased plate and spread it evenly with the ladle.

Put a butter paper on the top and use a rolling pin to roll it evenly to the thickness you desire.

After a while remove the butter paper, cut it into the shape you want however the accepted shape is a diamond.

 Remember to slice it while it is still warm as a warm mix is easier to slice.

At the end of it all, looks still matter.

If you can manage to get a thin silver foil that is used by sweet marts it is good else put a string of saffron on top of the slices or rose petals too for the looksJ

Enjoy!!!

Hello All

Hi all
Am starting my blog today!
I will be posting recipes I tried

Believe me it will be simple
There will be pictures too

Cheers