Parwal/Patal Besan Fry - Pointed Gourd

Someone who isn't very enthusiastic about spending a lot of time in kitchen after a long day at work, I appreciate all the quick recipes my mom taught me. The Patal besan fry is one such dish. The best part of it is, because of its softness, it can be taken with both rice and roti. This can also serve as a quick side dish during an elaborate dinner.

Ingredients:

Patal/Parwal/Pointed Gourd - Washed and cut in the middle to allow stuffing.
Besan - One cup
Jeera - 1 tbsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Salt
Red chilli powder
Oil

Process:

1. Mix all except patal in a bowl. Add oil in it and keep mixing till it is stays together. 
2. Stuff the mixture along the split in the patal.
3. Heat a generous helping of oil in a container.
4. Once hot, add the stuffed patals in the oil and let it cook.
5. Once the patals are start getting brown, sprinkle the rest of the mixture on top of it and mix.
6. Cook covered. Sprinkle water occasionally and cook covered till the patals are soft.
7. Serve hot with chapati or rice.

Dahi Baigan ( Egg Plants in a spiced yoghurt gravy )

I thank the days I miss home food, for on days as these I get down to prepare some Oriya delicasies. And this time it was Dahi Baingan that soothed my nostalgic stomach.

Dahi Baigan is a traditional Oriya dish normally served with flavoured rice or just as a curry with white rice, but it's best served with Kanina, a sweet flavoured rice that's so typical of an Oriya platter. It's basically fried egg plants dipped in spiced yoghurt and best for the sunny afternoons when you need something light, filling and cooling to go with your main course.

Ingredients

3 medium sized egg plants cut in quarters length wise

1 medium sized onion

1 inch chopped ginger

2-3 pods of garlic

4 green chillies slit length wise

10-12 curry leaves

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp asofitida seeds

1 cup of yoghurt

Oil

Salt

Process

Heat the oil in a deep pan. Add the mustard, asofitida and cumin seeds followed by the curry leaves. Let all the seeds crackle off.

Add the chopped ginger, garlic and green chillies and cook them till they give off their aroma.

Add the chopped onions and cook them till they are translucent.

Add the egg plants followed by all the powders and and give everything a good mix. Cover the pan and let the egg plant cook for 10 min.

Check if the egg plants are cooked. they should be tender but should be firm at the same time.

Put off the flame and let the egg plants cool down a bit.

Mix 1 cup of water with the yoghurt and mix them well. It should have the consistency of a batter.

Pour in the yoghurt in the cooked egg plants mixing them gently.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and have it with hot steaming rice :-)

Lemon and Lentil Rasam

After I shifted to South India I have taken a great liking for the tangy and spicy Rasam. Born and brought up in the eastern part on India I never had the opportunity to taste this tangy elixir in its true form and hence had never developed a taste for this so popular dish. But today being in the south for the past 6 years and having tried my hands and mastered a part of the South Indian cuisine, I definitely place Rasam in my top 5 comfort foods. And when down with flu, it becomes the only comfort food for me J

Across the four southern states, Rasam is prepared differently in different places. If I have to list down the variety of Rasam recipes I know, I can almost list out at-least 10 of them!!!

Yesterday I prepared Lemon and Lentil Rasam and here’s the recipe….

Ingredients

½ cup Toor Dal
1 tbs tamarind paste
2 tbs lime juice
2 tps rasam powder
4 pods of garlic chopped
1 inch ginger chopped
1 tps pepper
10-12 curry leaves
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp mustard seeds
Salt to taste
Fresh coriander leaves
Oil for tempering

Process

Pressure cook the dal along with Rasam powder, tamarind, salt and turmeric powder.
Grind the boiled dal to a fine paste and add thrice the amount of water to it and put it boil again.
Heat oil in a kadai. Add mustard seeds and peppercorns and let them splutter. Follow it with curry leaves.
Add the chopped ginger and garlic and stir till they are give out their pungent aroma.
Add the tempering to the boiling dal and mix well.
Add the chopped coriander leaves and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes till it reduced to 3/4^th of the amount so that the flavour of the tempering gets into the Rasam.
Add the lime juice at the end and simmer for another 2 minutes.

Ghuguni - Dry Peas Curry

When homesick there's nothing better than indulging in the very typical home food and that's what I did few days back.

Ghuguni, translated to spiced dry peas curry, holds such prominent position in Oriya cuisine that it was my choice of cure for homesickness. This humble dish is the ubiquitous side dish for most of Oriya breakfast and supper  platters, whether it's with pitha ( Oriya name for Dosa ), Dahi Vada ( Oriyas have a completely different species of this south Indian delicacy ) and the universal puris not to forget Ghuguni also has its place along with Rice and Chappatis as well.

Well I cured my homesickness with this humble dish and it made my day reminding me of the sultry Bhubaneswar summer when mom used to prepare Ghuguni with Pitha.

Ingredients : 

250 gms dry yellow/green peas
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 medium sized tomatoes
1 inch ginger chopped
4 pods of garlic chopped
1 tbs cumin powder
1 tbs coriander powder
1/2 tbs turmeric powder
1/2 tbs chilli powder
salt to taste
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
10-12 Curry leaves
Refined oil

Preparation :

Wash and soak the dry yellow/green peas overnight.
Pressure cook the peas in the water it was soaked in for 15 minutes or till done. Let it cool.
Heat oil in a kadai on medium high flame. Add the mustard seeds and let it crackle out. Reduce the flame to low.
Add curry leaves, chopped ginger and garlic and stir till the ginger garlic gives out a slighty burnt aroma.
Add the chopped onions and stir and cook till it's translucent follwed by the chopped tomatoes and all the spice powders. Mix well and cover the kadai to let the tomato lose its water and marry with the spices.
After 5 min stir it again and mash the tomatoes so as to give the mix a paste like consistency. Let it cook for another 5-10 min.
Add the bolied peas and mix well. Simmer for 10 min.

Ghuguni is ready!!!