Vrat Kadi for Navratri: carrot kofta in yoghurt gravy

Its navratri time, time to fast, feast and wait for all the rest of the festivals to hit you! Navratri is composed of nine days of celebrating the female energy of our creation, in the most revered form, the Mother Goddess. All throughout India, from state to state, the Goddesses are prayed.

"All Hindus celebrate this festival at the same time in different ways in different parts of India as well as around the world. In the northern part of the country, the first nine days of this festival, called Navaratri, is commonly observed as a time for rigorous fast, followed by celebrations on the tenth day. In western India, throughout the nine days, both men and women participate in a special kind of dance around an object of worship. In the south, Dusshera or the tenth day is celebrated with a lot of fanfare. In the east, people go crazy over Durga Puja, from the seventh till the tenth day of this annual festival. Although, the universal nature of the festival is often found to transcend regional influences and local culture, the Garba Dance of Gujarat, Ramlila of Varanasi, Dusshera of Mysore, and Durga Puja of Bengal need special mention." Source.

From my childhood days, Ive spent these nine days fasting and feasting on yummy fasting food, hearing bhajans glorifying the mother goddess and waiting for my ‘kanjak’ on the 8th day. (In Punjab, on the 8th (ashtami) day, little gifts and a plate of halwa-poori, chole is given to little girls). Now that I’m a big girl :D I make these special dishes at home too and hand out kanjaks to little girls around the neighbourhood and daughters of my friends!

Now onto some yummy fasting food: fasting on navratri days usually, means restricting oneself to only certain things and avoiding grains, dals and most spices and vegetables. Different people fast in different ways so please go ahead and tweak this kadi in anyway to suit you. This kadi may have some ingredients that are not taken for strict fasting, and I will try to offer substitutions.

What you need:

For the koftas:

-2 cups finely grated carrots (can substitute with grated plantains or sweet potato)
-1 cup (approx) potato flour (can use rajgro flour that’s used during fasting)
-1 boiled and mashed potato
-Salt (some people use black/rock salt) to taste
-1/2 tsp chilli powder.
-1 tsp whole black peppercorns
-Oil for deep frying

For the kadi:

-¾ cup potato flour

-1 cup full cream milk (can use water too)
-2 cups yoghurt (preferably sour Indian curd)
-Salt (some people use black/rock salt) to taste
-1 tsp chilli powder

For the tadka:

-2 tbsp ghee
-4-5 whole dried red chillies (broken into pieces)

-2 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)

What you need to:

1. Combine the ingredients for the kofta to make a soft, moist dough, it should not be dry. Make into small balls. Makes about 22. (I made this to take to the temple). Deep fry them in oil (or ghee, if you want). Allow the koftas to cool.

2. Add milk, salt and pepper to taste to the potato flour and combine to make a dosa-(pancake)-batter-like consistency. Keep aside. In another bowl, lightly beat the yoghurt (curds).

3. In a big pot make the tadka: add the ghee and when hot, add the jeera and broken red chilli pieces. When the spices become a shade darker, add the potato flour batter and then add the beaten yoghurt. Bring to the boil.

4. When the kadi is boiling vigourously, turn the gas to a medium-low, and let it simmer until it thickens.

5. When the kadi thickens, switch off the gas and let it cool slightly. Add the koftas and gently stir. Let the kadi sit for some time (maybe 10 minutes) to allow the koftas to soak up the liquid. Serve hot with vrat rice or have as is with jeera potatoes.

This is going to Vee of Past Present and Me for the wonderful event JFI special series: The festive series...

Methi and Leftover dal ki missi poori with aaloo

Ok, I give in. This whole week, I said to myself I wudn't fry, and be on this 'healthy' salad diet. And what do you know? There's an event, more like an invitation to a party to encourage us to fry pooris and to have it with the ever tempting aaloo sabzi...grrrr

So yesterday I said, what the heck...I might as well make it :) which made hubby the happiest person on the planet. Anita, this whole week you are shining on my blog :), you sure are good at tempting others to cook. With blogging about food like this, for sure we will never loose our tyres....

Since its raining poori aalo in the blogosphere and everyone was making pooris with plain aata, I thought I should make my dal methi poori. Using leftover dal? u ask; yup, I say.

I have two aaloo bhaji recipes here, one which I've always had in my parents house with poori, kachori, etc and the second one is a southie version, my mallu friend taught me. Each is in its own league. I made the second one yesterday which was devoured before I could take any pics :S

I usually make these pooris whenever there is any kind of leftover dal, and my hubby always encourages me to make excess dal so that I make his dal pooris!! For the pooris I made yesterday I had lots of dal palak (mung dal split with spinach and onion tomato tadka) left from the previous day. The dal should be a mushy mushy consistency. Offcourse these methi pooris can be made on the tava with lesser oil too, but Anita said F R I E D, so we fried, :p.

Image : The dry ingredients before kneading with the dal

For the methi missi poori you need:
-1 cup aata (any brown bread flour)
-1 cup besan (chana flour)
-2 tbsp dried kasuri methi
-1 tsp dry dhania powder (optional)
-some leftover dal

what to do
1. In a bowl throw in the aata, besan and methi. Optionally add a tsp of dry dhania powder. Use the leftover dal to knead the dough (dont use any water). If you run out of the dal, use milk to combine the rest of the flour. Make a fairly stiff dough. Even if they dont rise while frying, they will be moist because of the besan and dal. No chance of getting any cluries (cardboard like poories)!!

2. Take enough dough to make a 10cm round which is 1/4cm in thickness (it should not be too thin, else you run the danger of them becoming cluries; it should not be too thick, else you run the danger of them not getting cooked through).

3. Deep fry them, in hot oil until they are pink in colour. Alternately toast them on a tava like missi roti, painting with a little bit of oil on both sides.

4. Find any bhaji to eat with and devour quickly. Also you can have them just like that rolled with mango or lemon pickle. Its excellent tiffin and picnic food. (Makes 12 small pooris)

Aaloo bhaji 1 (northie version)- has more gravy
what you need
- 3-4 boiled potatoes finely chopped
- 1 tomato finely chopped
- 1 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
- 1 tsp methade (whole fenugreek seeds)
- 3 tsp oil (any vegetable oil)
- salt and chilli powder to taste
- 3/4 tsp haldi (tumeric)
- handful of finely chopped green coriander

what you need to do
1. Heat the oil in a deep pan. When hot, throw in the jeera and methade. When they change a few shades darker (which takes a few seconds), put in the tomato and saute briefly. Add three of the chopped boiled potatoes and add 3 cups water.

2. Whilst it starts coming to the boil, mash the one potato that was not added. Add salt, chilli powder, and tumeric. Dont think the tumeric is too much, we need a deep yellow colour. When it comes to a strong boil add the mashed potato and simmer for 10 minutes. Garnish with coriander and serve with poori or kachori.

Aaloo bhaji 2 (southie version) - is a semi dry consistency
what you need
- 3-4 boiled potatoes coarsely chopped
- 1 onion coarsely chopped
- 1 tsp finely chopped ginger
- 4-5 green chillies split
- 1 tsp rai (mustard seeds)
- 1 tsp urad dal
- 3 tsp oil (any vegetable oil)
- salt and chilli powder to taste
- 1/4 tsp haldi (tumeric)
- 4-5 sprigs of mint

what you need to do1.
1. Heat the oil in a deep pan. When hot, throw in the mustard seeds and urad dal. When the mustard seeds starts to splutter(which takes a few seconds) add the urad dal and ginger and green chillies; saute until they change a few shades darker (which again takes a few more seconds) or when you hear people in the adjacent room coughing. Put in the onions and saute for some more time, until the onions become translucent. Add the chopped boiled potatoes and add 1 and a 1/2 cups water.

2. While it starts coming to the boil, add salt, chilli powder, tumeric and mint. Here we need a light yellow colour and I promise you the mint is the king in this dish. When it comes to a strong boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for another 10 minutes. Serve with poori.

Creamy Stuffed Tomatoes

Tomatoes.. I gotta have a bunch in my refrigerator no matter what. Plus they act as a contingency for other cooking plans and recipe disasters. In fact I always find my family members wondering why they appear in every dish I make. Heck, I could throw them into my green salad, who cares if its not green anymore. Contingency because, when I’m in one of those what-do-I-make confusion states or when I’m just cooking for myself, I settle down for a plain good old tomato and black pepper sandwich. Nothing beats that!

So when JFI for April was tomatoes hosted by RP of My Workshop, I jumped up and was like… tomato sandwich? Nah…..I decided on Creamy Stuffed Tomatoes because its so different and my beloved tomato stands out in the sauce like a lovely setting sun in the sky. My, am I getting poetic today or what? I swear it the tomato effect!!!

This recipe is truly a fusion recipe and a first for my blog! Really, my mum takes all the credit for this lick-your-fingers invention. She intended to make her stuffed green peppers and because I had accidentally chopped up her small hand picked dainty peppers in my salad, she decided to take revenge on my stash of tomatoes. The sauce came along with some further tweaks to the recipe and we sat down licking our fingers and laughing on our little veggie war!!!

Ingredients

10-12 medium sized tomatoes cored
Note: Tomatoes that are called ‘Globe’ type are medium-sized, firm, juicy, and like ‘beefsteak’ variety are good raw or cooked. We need tender ones for this recipe and a slight pogginess in the tomatoes disqualifies them from this dish.











Find single serving sized tomatoes to use since we want to stuff them and serve them whole. To core a tomato, use the tip of a sharp knife or peeler to make a shallow cut all around the stem end, and then pop out the core. Scoop out the seeds and the pulp with a grapefruit spoon.

Filling:
2 medium sized potatoes boiled and mashed
75g khoya/paneer
Salt to taste
½ tsp Chilli powder

Sauce:
2-3 tblsp ghee/oil
1 tsp jeera
1 cup (250ml) white sauce or roux
1 large onion finely chopped
100ml tomato puree
Salt to taste
Chilli powder
Pinch of turmeric (to give it a creamish color)
½ tsp dhania powder


1. Combine well the ingredients for the filling. Fill into the deseeded and cored tomatoes. The paneer/khoya can really be excluded if desired, but I feel they add a softness to the filling mixture.

2. Saute the jeera and onions in the ghee until the onions are golden. Add the tomato puree and all the spices except the roux and sauté for a further few minutes. Add the roux when the onions and puree are well cooked with the spices.

Note: To avoid the roux being lumpy, when combining with the milk, it is important that the milk be added very hot and in small quantities to the roux while stirring, to ensure proper mixing.

3. Arrange the stuffed tomatoes in a baking tray. Preferably they should be served in the same casserole/tray. Pour over the creamy sauce and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for 15-20 minutes to allow the tomatoes to absorb all the moisture.

4. Serve piping hot with Naan or a plain parantha. Its great with a plain phulka too!!

Cheese Veggie Potato Cutlet

I hadn’t blogged for so long and I promised I would cook for Jihva for ingredients by mahanandi, this month it was hosted by Vaishali from Happy Burp and the ingredient for this month was potatoes. As she rightly describes it, it’s the most versatile vegetable I have ever come across, it can be boiled, baked, fried in hundreds of ways. It is true that we have a love-hate relationship with it. As much as we love it, any potato dish is sure to be calorie loaded. For me any potato dish is an indugence and any preparation livens up the family meal.

I had cooked on 17th feb and all ready to publish it on the 1st of march…. even then I am only managing to publish it now because I had to go for an emergency surgery, that’s why they say you never know what’s in store for you tomorrow! So live all you have for today.

Here is the recipe for Cheese Veggie Cutlet which is enjoyed so much in my home.




(Makes 16 medium filled cutlets)

Ingredients:

6-8 medium sized potatoes (boiled)
6-7 brown bread slices
Salt to taste
Jeera powder
Chilly powder
Finely chopped coriander leaves

Breadcrumbs (dried) for coating
1 egg or (1 tsp white flour mixed in water)

Filling:

100g cheese (any will do especially mozzarella)
100g grated carrots
100g grated cauliflower
5-6 chopped green chillies
50g grated ginger
½ tsp coriander powder
Salt to taste

Method:







Combine the ingredients for the fillings with salt and coriander powder.

Grate the boiled potato in a large mixing bowl. Soak the bread slices in water, squeeze out the excess water from your hands and add to the grated potato. Add, salt to taste, chilly powder and jeera powder, chopped coriander leaves to the mixture and fold together.


Divide the potato-bread mixture into medium sized balls. Make a depression in each ball and fill with about 2 tsp of the filling mixture. Cover up the filling and shape into a patty or cutlet shape.




When patties or cutlets are ready, dip in a bowl with beaten egg (a mixture of water and 1 tsp maida can be mixed and used instead), and dip into a plate of dried breadcrumbs. Deep fry until golden brown and serve hot!