Fried Egg Masala

Living amidst Egg-Lovers, its been long on my mind to try some new dish with eggs. Personally, I eat eggs rarely and only selected preparation of it.

Sunday, when I had an ardent egg lover for lunch, thought of attempting a different preparation rather than the usual boil, burji (scrambled egg), or egg curry. Ended up making a spicy fried egg masala dish, that I saw in another food blog.

Ingredients:

• Boiled Eggs          : 4 (for this dish, you will be slicing an egg into two halves)
• Onion                    : 1 small or medium sized, diced lengthwise
• Jeera Powder         : 1 tspn
• Coriander Powder : 1/2 tspn (or 1)
• Chilli Powder        : 1 - 1.5 tspn (as spicy as you like)
• Oil                         : 1 tbspn
• Kasoori Methi       : 1/2 tspn
• Garam Masala       : 1-2 pinch
• Mixed herbs          : 1/2 tspn
• Curry Leaves         : to taste
• Salt                        : to taste

Method:

1. Boil the eggs, peel them and slice into two halves each
2. In a non stick pan (kadai), add oil. 
3. As it heats up, add onion. Fry it to light golden color
4. To this add all spices and salt
5. On a side of the pan, pour a spoon of oil and slightly fry the eggs both sides. They should turn light golden (you can also fry it separately and keep it ready)
6. Then mix the masalas with the egg. add kasoori methi and dried herbs, and allow it to cook for a minute
7. Remove from fire and serve it as Starters, Side Dish for Roti or with Rice

Lemon Pickle : First Attempt

Give me pickle any day, any time (spicy one!)... just love it! But natural that one of my major attempts in my kitchen is to make home made pickle. No more pickle from the market for very many obvious reasons.

Pickle is such a flexi stuff that you can end up making one from most of the vegetable / non-veg : most favored one is Lemon. Pickle varieties can also be based on type of preparation : Dried, Juicy, Instant, etc...

As a first attempt, I made a juicy spicy lemon pickle. Easy to make and maintain as well, as compared to something like 'vadu manga' or 'avakai' (mango based pickles)

Ingredients:

Lemon                   - I tried this batch with 10 lemons
Green Chilies        - (Optional) - Approx 10 cut into small pieces
Red Chile powder or Pickle Powder - Use Qty as spicy as you need. Roughly 10 red chilies dried and powdered
Turmeric Powder   - 1 tsp
Salt                         - To taste
Hing                        - 1/2 tsp
Sesame Oil (Til)     - 1/4 cup or so (this pickle doesn't need too much of oil)

Method:

1. Wash the lemons and dry them with a towel
2. Cut them into dices (a big lemon can be cut into 4 halves) and deseed them
3. Place these in a clean bottle (ensure it has no water and dried)
4. To this add turmeric powder and salt

I let the above-mix soak for 3-4 days with daily stirring. To stir, use a dried ladle.

1. End of Day 3 or 4, you can see the texture change and the lime juice will be seen. 
2. To this, add the cut green chilies. 
3. Allow it to soak for another  day or two (I did to allow the chili soak in well with the lemon juice)

After Day 5-6, the lemon and chilies are well soaked and the skin of lemon would have changed color.

1. Now, add the chili powder or pickle powder and hing
2. Taste for salt, if needed add a bit more
3. In a kadai, add oil. If you like it, add some mustard seeds. As they crackle, remove from fire
4. Add this to the pickle mix and stir it well with the ladle. (If the bottle is with small mouth, you can move the entire mix to a broad vessel, mix well and then bottle it again)
5. Allow this mix to soak for another 4-5 days at least. 

Change of texture is the best indication of readiness of the pickle. First attempt was well received :)

Next in the making : Vadu Manga... can't wait :)

Paneer Tikka Masala

Heat beats heat or so it seems...  With many visiting and week end meet ups, I've been chilling myself in the hot kitchen ;) Now, time to catch up with my blog. Yesterday's preparation in my kitchen : Paneer Tikka Masala, Dhal Makhani, Peas pulao, and rotis with some yumm ice creams.

Paneer (Cottage Cheese / Cheese) is a regular when we plan for a vegetarian platter (exceptions overruled;). Recent times I tried Paneer Butter Masala and Paneer Tikka Masala. Quick to cook, adaptable to tastes, paneer can be given any tasty shape you want to. Here you go with Tikka Masala.

Ingredients:

• Paneer : 200-250 gm
• Ginger Garlic Paste: 2 tspn
• Green Capsicum: 1 medium
• Big Onion: 2 small or 1 medium
• Tomato: 1 medium 
• Green Chillie: 1-2 (as spicy as you like)
• Curd : 2 tbsp (as tangy as you like)
• Oil: 4-5 tbsp
• Cumin seeds: 1 tspn
• Turmeric powder: 1 tspn
• Coriander powder: 1-1.5 tspn
• Chillie powder: 2 tspn (as spicy as you like). I added 0.5 tspn of Kashmiri Chilli powder 
• Pepper powder: 1 tspn
• Soya Sauce: 1 tspn
• Garam Masala: 1/2 tspn 
• Kasoori Methi: 1-2 pinch
• Salt: To Taste
• Coriander Leaves: For Garnishing

Method:

Steps to marinate paneer:

• Cut paneer into cubes or rectangles
• In a bowl, add a tspn of ginger garlic paste. To this add, 1 tspn of Chili powder, 1 tspn of pepper, 1 tspn of coriander powder, 2 tbspn of curd (or as tangy as you like), salt. Mix and allow it to rest in the fridge for 1 hour

Steps to make paneer tikka masala:

• In a small kadai or tawa, add 1-2 tspn of oil. As it heats up, place the paneer cubes and roast them to deep red / brown both sides. I did it in small batches
• In a kadai, add 1-2 tspn of oil. As it heats up, add cumin seeds. As they splutter, add onion along with the remaining ginger-garlic paste. Sprinkle a little of salt and allow the onion to cook till red.
• To this add the sliced green capsicum and saute it.
• Grind tomatoes with chillie to a smooth paste and add the same to the onion/capsicum mix. Add a bit of water, and allow it to cook for a few seconds with covered lid.
• To the above mix, add the powders: turmeric, coriander, chillie (including kashmiri chillie), garam masala, salt (per taste) and add some more water. Allow it to cook for a minute or two.
• Then add the fried paneer cubes to it. Saute it well. I added a tspn of soya sauce to it.
• Garnish with kasoori methi and coriander. Stir and remove from fire.

Serve it hot with hot rotis / chappatis / paranthas or just as a starter. 

Vada Pav : Indian Veg Burger

Vada Pav originated in the state of Maharashtra, India, but now is a staple food for many across... A simple yet most tasty dish that can be cooked in a few minutes. For many it serves as the breakfast, lunch and dinner along with a hot cup of tea!

It is almost similar to a burger, just that this is made out of simple and easily available pav (buns, small breads) with a Vada (potato based stuffing) in between along with some spicy and tangy green chutney accompanied by some green chili and spicy garlic chutney / powder.

After tasting at a few places, I always wanted to try my hands at it. Finally, my first attempt at making Vada Pav is a reality and a complete success with my dearies :)

Ingredients:

To prepare the Vada / Tikki:

• Potato                    :2 medium boiled and smashed 
• Green Chillies       : 2 crushed
• Garlic                    : 1 tablespoon crushed 
• Ginger                   : 1 tablespoon crushed
• Mustard Seeds      : 1 tspn
• Curry Leaves        :  a few
• Turmeric Powder  : 1/2 tspn
• Coriander Leaves  : 2 tbspn finely chopped 
• Salt                        : To Taste
• Oil                         : 1 tbspn
• Asafoetida             : a pinch

To prepare the Flour / Batter for Vada:

• Gram Flour / Besan : 3/4 cup
• Turmeric Powder     : 1/2 tspn
• Baking Soda             : a pinch
• Salt                           : to taste
• Oil                            : to fry

To prepare the Chutneys:

Green Chutney:

• Coriander leaves : a bunch (as much qty as you need)
• Mint leaves           : a bunch (I take it in almost equal qty)
• Green Chilies       : 4-6 (as spicy as you need it)
• Sour Curd            : 1/2 cup (to make the chutney tangy)
• Mango Powder    : 1 tbspn (optional; if used accordingly quantify the curd)
• Salt                        : To taste 

Red Coconut Garlic Chutney: 

• Coconut                      : 1 cup
• Garlic                          : 6-8 cloves
• Red Chili Powder        : 1 tbspn (as spicy as you like)
• Sesame Seeds (white)  : 1 tspn 
• Lemon Juice                : 1 tbspn

Method:

To make the Vadas:

• In a bowl, mix the mashed potatoes with chilies, ginger and garlic
• In a pan, heat the tbspn of oil and add mustard seeds. As they crackle, add curry leaves, asafoetida, and turmeric powder. Remove from fire immediately and pour it to the mashed potato mix. 
• To this, add the remaining ingredients including salt and mix. Make small round vadas and leave them aside for some time

To fry:

• In a bowl, mix the gram flour, turmeric powder, baking soda, salt and beat it to make a nice batter (consistency similar to making dosas)
• In a kadai (deep frying pan), add oil to fry. 
• Add a spoon of this oil to the batter prepared and mix.
• Dip the vadas in this batter, and add them to the heated oil. Fry them till golden brown and place them aside.

To make the Chutneys:

  Green Chutney: Just grind all ingredients and place it in a bowl.

  Red Chutney: 

  

     The way I prepared: Slightly roast the sesame seeds, and grind all ingredients to a  smooth mix. If you like, add a bit of lemon juice and mix well.

     Typical Method: Roast coconut to a deep brown color. Roast the sesame seeds to light brown color. You can roast the garlic and red chili powder as well. Cool them and grind them to a mix (with very less or no water).

To make the Vada Pav:

• I slit a pav (a bun) into two and slightly roasted them on a tava (this is optional; typically it is had raw)
• Apply the Chutneys you have made (green, red etc), and place a Vada / Tikki in between two loaves and serve it hot with green chilies.

Note: Green Chilies can also be slightly sauteed in oil and some salt and mustard seed powder can be sprinkled on it before serving. 

Serve it hot with the accompanying green chilies and chutneys, with a hot cup of tea or any of your favorite drink!

Tomato Masala Gravy / Chutney

More than the main dish, the challenge lies in making an interesting yet varied yet tasty side dish; one that gels well with the main dish in the making. Whenever we have Idlis / Dosas / Idiyappam etc, we typically run short of ideas... So, we need to keep innovating with chutneys and gravies. One such is this Tomato Kurma / Chutney (Tomao Masala Gravy).

While visiting many cookery blogs, some dishes stay with you and you want to try it out for your taste budzz... this is one such recipe, a Chettinad preparation.

Ingredients

• Tomato                  : 5-6 medium (based on Qty required)
• Onion                    : 2 medium or a handful of small onions
• Turmeric Powder  : 1/2 tspn
• Chili Powder         : 2-2.5 tspn (as spicy as you like)
• Coriander Powder : 1-1.5 tspn
• Salt                        : To Taste
• Coconut                : 1/4 cup grated 
• Green Chilies       : 2 (optional)
• Garlic                   :4-5 cloves
• Ginger                  :1 "
• Jeera                     : 1/2 tspn
• Clove                     :2-3
• Cinnamon             :1"
• Saunf (fennel)       : 1/2 tspn
• Oil                         : 2 tbspn (or more as rqd) - I used sesame oil (nallenai)
• Curry Leaves        : A few

Method:

1. In a kadai, add a spoon of oil. Fry Cinamon, Cloves, Jeera and Saunf. Remove from fire and take it in a mixer. Just saute garlic and ginger and add it to the mixer.
2. To this add the grated coconut, green chilies (if rqd) and grind it to a smooth mix
3. Separately, grind the tomatoes and keep it aside
4. In a kadai, add remaining oil. To this add the onions and let it cook to golden brown with a pinch of salt. To this, add the ground masala and coconut mix. 
5. Allow it to cook till the masala smell is absorbed
6. Add the tomato mix and cook it for a few mts.
7. To this add all powders :turmeric, coriander and chili (While adding chili powder, if you add a bit of oil and then the powder, it will give a rich color)
8. Mix it well along with salt. Add enough water and allow it to cook till oil starts oozing on the sides. You can either make it semi gravy (like Kurma) or like chutney; accordingly remove from fire. 

Serve it hot with Idlis, Dosas, Idiyapam, Rice etc.

NOTE:

• You can use more of green chilies and less of red chili powder to get the typical kurma color (pale green)
• You can make this as semi gravy like kurma or as Chutney (like i did)
• You can adjust the quantity of the masala items based on the flavor you need. I choose to keep it mild.