Soya Granules Curry with Whole Wheat Chapathis

1. Wash and soak granules in warm water for 1/2 hr
2. Menawhile, cut tomatoes into thin slices or make puree and keep aside
3. Cut onions into thin slices
4. Take a wide pan, heat oil and add onions and fry till light brown in color
5. Add ginger-garlic paste and fry for 1 min
6. Add turmeric powder and fry for few seconds, add soya granules by squeezing all water from it into the pan and mix well.
7. Fry for 2 minutes. Add all other masalas including salt and mix well (if needed very little water ) and allow to cook with closed lid on medium heat for 5 minutes.
8. Now add tomatoes and mix well. Again allow to cook for 5 more minutes or untill tomatoes are cooked completely. (Here if you are adding tomato puree, then add it after 5th step.
9. Finally add cilantro and lime juice and mix well and sim for 2 minutes.
10. Remove from heat and serve with hot chapathis or plain rice.

Labels: curries, curry, kheema, minced soya, soya, soya granuels, vegetable, vegetable dishes, vegetarian kheema

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 1:58 PM | Permalink | Comments

Chicken Curry is going to be my first Non-Vegeterian dish in my blog??..I never thought!! Really, I wanted to introduce Non-Veg items in my blog with Chicken Biryaani. Since we limited our selfs from eating Non-Veg, Iam getting chance to cook Non-Veg very rarely. But, from now onwards I will make sure to blog them when ever I cook at home. This curry actually I made for the small Barbeque type of get-to-geather in Srinivas's office. Then, very limited choice was given to me by him. That is, If I have to prepare Non-Veg then that should be less spicy yet very tasty:-)) Then I thought of making this dish. With no other delay and no more stories here I go with the recipe details.........

1. Cut chicken thighs into halfs or a/c to your choice size probably small pieces.(Here, we got chicken thighs since I was not decide any dish then, later I made two halfs from one thigh. You can also use boneless chicken, cubed and skinned for this recipe). Wash them mix in with curd (preferably one or two day before curd) and marinate for half-an-hour.
2. Make onions puree and keep aside.
3. Make tomato puree with cashews in it. i.e., grind both tamatoes and cashew togeather.
4. Heat oil in a wide , deep pan (for chicken to be cooked easily).
5. While chicken get marinated...prepare all other spices and purees as mentioned above.
6. Add caradamom pods (open the cover and add seeds along with it), cloves to bay leaf in the oil. Fry for 1 min.
7. Now add onion puree and fry till it starts changing color from white to light brown.
8. Add tomato and cashew puree along with salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala. Mix well and cover the pan and allow to cook on medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes.
9. Now add marinated chicken and required water if necessary and mix well with all other ingredients.
10. Cover the pan and cook on low heat for half-an-hour or till the chicken is cooked well by stirring it ocassionaly. Here I mentioned half-an-hour time because chicken should be cooked well.
11. Once it is done you can garnish with fresh cilantro and very little lime juice if required. Since already curd is present more lime juice can change the taste of the curry.

Note: Cashews reduces the spice also makes the gravy light in color and gives little thickness to the gravy. I had to use them here for Srinivas's office staff memebers:-)) Other wise I generally avoid cashews in chicken or any other non-veg curry. We prefer non-veg items more spicy.

Labels: cashew, chicken, chicken curry, chicken in cashew nut sauce, curries, curry, kaaju, non vegetarian, non vegetarian dishes, nuts

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments

1. Wash mango very well in cold water and cut into very small cubes along with skin and keep aside.
2. Toor dal as mentioned in the ingredients. That is method I always follow.
3. Take a wide, little depth pan and heat the oil. Once it is heated up add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, green chillies and curry leaves one after the other as mentioned.
4. Now add cut mangoes and fry for 2 minutes.
5. Then add garlic paste, turmeric, red chilli powder, coriander powder and salt one after the other and mix well with mangoes. Fry for 2 more minutes.
6. Add some water, mix well, cover the pan and cook on medium heat till mangoes become little soft (see that they sare not mashed).
7. Now add cooked toor dal and mix well with other ingredients. Allow to cook for some more time. Now here you can add some water if you want more gravy. You will know by this time by tasting it and seeing that how much more gravy you required as per your need.
8. Finally as usual add cilantro and mix with other stuff. Keep on low heat about 1 minute and remove from heat.

After I tasted this curry, with no delay I prepared stuff for puri's which I knew goes very well with this Sweet 'n' Tangy Mango Curry. It was too good. Next day I told this recipe to my mother on phone. She too tried it and every body at home liked it a alot. Hope you will also like this. Mangoes are too expensive right now..knowing this I bought another one for this weekend, since I could not resist the taste:-))

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1. Take Wheat Atta or Wheat Flour as you require.
2. Put a pinch of baking soda or eating soda in it for soft and fluffy puri's(not more than that, since it absorbs more oil if soda is added more).
3. Add some salt in it. See that it is not more because..puris always we eat with some or other curry. I add 1/2 tsp of salt in 4 cups (i.e., a/c rice cooker cup). Even when we eat puri as it is it taste good.
4. With clean hands, mix well all three ingredients and make dough with warm water. Always add water in small amounts and knead the dough accordingly, progressing slowly. The dough sould be not too soft which stick to your hands nor too hard to knead any more.
5. Once kneaded, push the dough with your hands with a touch of little water on top i.e., air tight, so that no air enters into the dough. Do not add oil here. Close the container with dough, with a lid and keep aside for minimum half-an-hour and maximum 1 hr.
6. After 1/2 hr, put some oil on top of the dough and again with clean hands(i.e., wash your hands always though fresh, again before kneading the dough) start kneading it again, till you get a soft dough or atleast for 10 minutes at a strech.
7. The dough is ready for puri's. I follow same for chapathis or pulkhas too except adding eating soda and salt. Yes, I eliminate salt and oil in my chapathis (except oil to knead the dough), still the out put is very good.
8. For puri's never add dry flour more on top while making flat rounds(here you don'nt need any dry flour if dough is good enough to knead), because they will not rise while deep frying.

Labels: curries, curry, lentils, mango, mango curry sweet and tangy mango curry, poori, vegetable, vegetable dishes

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments

Don'nt they look like some brown pearls??? Yeah, they are!!! I mean they are so precious in food world not though in pearls :-)) Thease, beans we found in indian grocery, where we were actually searching for alasandalu (black eyed beans). I bought them with out knowing anything about. Then after seeing the name Moth Beans on the packet, I started searching on the net for information. Then I found some sites, stating they are called Mat or Matki in maharashtra and are used to make sav or chaat or curry. They were in my store for long long time untouched. When I was lack of vegetables except onions and tomatoes in my store, I took them and made some dry curry, finally. And ask what? ...the end result was very good, more than I expected. And yesterday, when I was going through Vaishali's Blog, I found matki farasbee bhaji, which is combo of beans and moth sprouts. You can check the recipe..its very intresting and Iam going to try this next time with moth beans. So some how I made a curry with thease beans using my regular masala ingredients. Hope you will like it:-)) Here I go....

Ingredients:
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1 cup moth beans (soaked overnight in water)
2 medium sized tomatoes (chopped finely or sliced into thin pieces)
1 medium onion (cut into thin slices)
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder (optional)
1 tsp lemon juice
oil for cooking( as required)
salt as per taste

Method:
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1. Wash moth beans soaked overnight , drain and keep aside.
2. Heat oil in a wide pan, fry onion till light brown. Add ginger and garlic paste, fry for 1 more min.
3. Add all other spices and fry for 2 min.
4. Now add moth beans and little water. Mix all other spices and salt with moth beans and close the lid. Allow to cook for 3 to 4 min on medium heat.
5. Now add tomatoes ( can reduce to 1 tomato, if you want less gravy or like to eat as a chaat). Mix all other ingredients with tomatoes and allow to cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Once you see the gravy become thick or there is no water, remove for the heat.
6. Add lemon juice , just before removing from the heat.

Note: Serve with hot chapathis or pulkhas. If you are serving, some time later, then can be served as a chaat with cut onions, fresh coriender and cut lemon pieces as desired. I liked this dish in both ways.

Labels: curries, curry, dal, dhal, matki, matki ka sabzi, moth beans, moth beans curry, sabzi

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments

Soya Granules are another healthy yet tasty choice. Before I state actual recipe, I would like to give a brief information (though known to many) about Soya. I feel happy if this inforamtion is really helpful to even one reader. Soya is strongly recommended for diabetics, expectant mothers, growing children, cardiac patients , slimmers and the aged. Again Soya is rich in proteins and essential amino acids and it is 100% vegetarian. 52% of Nutrela i.e., soya granules is equallant to (22% of meat + 14% egg + 12% wheat +4%milk) . This information is mentioned on Nutrela box which I purchase. I prefered to mention this for its awareness. Soya absorbs the taste and flavour of whichever dish you add it to or whatever is added to it. Thus, it can be a good substitue for items like paneer, vegetables, meat, potatoes(which contain high carbohydrates) etc. It can be used in all kind of dishes indian, chinese, continental and sweet dishes.

To add soya in any dish:
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Wash soya in warm water twice or thrice then soak them in warm water till it softens or pressure cook till one whistle. Again rinse once. Now soya is ready to add in any dish:-)

This dish I learned from my mother. It was very uncommon in my relatives till they tasted at our home. From then all most every body started liking it. I use Big soya granules in Methi Aloo dish instead off aloo(potato); Methi Soya dish; Palak Aloo instead of aloo soya; Tomato Soya ect., the list is long:-)) Here I come to the main recipe without any more delay:-

Ingredients:
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2 bunches of Fenugreek Leaves( small methi leaves with out stems washed and kept aside to drain).
1 cup of Soya granules (fine soya granules as shown in above picture)
1 medium sized onion (cut into long thin slices)
1 tsp of ginger paste
1 tsp of garlic paste
1 to 2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp of coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
salt as required
2 to 3 tsp of oil

Method:
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1. Heat oil in large pan. Once oil get heated, add onions and fry till they turn light brown in color.
2. Add ginger and garlic paste and fry for a minute. Add turmeric powder and mix well.
   
3. Squeeze all the water from soya and add bit to bit in the pan. Mix well and fry for 2 min.
4. Now add methi and mix well with soya and put salt from above(do not mix now). Close the lid and allow to cook on medium heat till methi settles down.
   
5. Mix all the ingredients well. Now add other two spices..red chilli powder and coriender powder. Mix well and allow to cook on medium heat again for about 15 minutes.
6. See it should not be burnt. Don'nt add any water.

Note: This taste best with hot rice and also with chapathis. Due to fenugreek leaves you may taste little bitterness but loved by all those who love fenugreek leaves and ofcourse vegetables which taste bitter are always good for health :-))

Labels: curries, curry, fenugreek leaves, mentham koora, methi, soya, soya fenugreek curry, soya granuels, vegetable, vegetable dishes

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments

Aubergines are one such vegetable which can be said as "Versatile". Here I mean , when they are cooked along with any other vegetables, it does'nt loose its flavour and easily "Adaptable". Here again I mean, it can be cooked with different vegetables. I felt this is the best way to explain Augbergines also called "Brinjal", also called "Egg plants" (which are called "Vankaayalu" in telugu "Baingan" in Hindi). Like its nature it has got many names in one language :-))Today I have choosen this recipe with Brinjal, because it itself is a main ingredient in this curry.Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:
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Augbergines 10 to 15 No's ("small Brinjals" cut them into small cubes)

1. Cut the Augbergines into small cubes. Wash them, sprinkle with salt and keep aside for 1/2hr. By doing so, impurities in Brinjal will be cleared.
2. Heat the oil and add the fenugreek and cumin seeds. When they have started to crackel, add the oinion,garlic,lentils and curry leaves.
3. As soon as onions starts changing color add all the ground spices.
4. Until above ingredients cook a little, meanwhile rinse the Augbergines and pat dry.
5. Now add them to the pan, and allow to cook till they become tender.(Be careful that they are not over cooked and lose their shape)
6. This dish can be served hot or cold with rice or chapathis.

Note: Here Tomatoes can be used if you desire. But I did not choose here to get full flavour of Augbergines.

Labels: aubergine, brinjal curry, curries, curry, vankaaya koora, vegetable, vegetable dishes

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 4:23 PM | Permalink | Comments

1. Heat oil in a pan add cumin seeds.Once they start spluttering add onions and fry till light brown.Before onions starts turning light brown add tofu and fry for till they also turn light brown on all sides.Then add capsicum and fry They should be little crunchy.
2. Now add all masalas one after the other.Ginger garlic paste,turmeric powder,red chilli powder,coriander powder,garam masala powder and salt.
3. Mix well all the ingredients and allow to cook to medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Then add tomotoes and 1 cup of water, soysauce and mix well.Allow to cook on med heat untill tomatoes become soft.
5. Now to make gravy thick add corn flour as required i.e., 1 or 2 tsp.Not more than that. Because the flavour changes.
6. Finally add coriander and mix well and remove from the heat.

Labels: breakfast, curries, curry, firm tofu, indo chinease curry, tofu, tofu curry, tofu masala curry, vegetable, vegetable dishes

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments

1. Wash soaked chick peas well and pressure cook till chick peas become soft , drain and keep aside.
2. Take a wide cooking pan. Heat oil and add cloves,sticks,elachi and cumin seeds and fry for 1 min.
3. Add green chillies, onions and fry till light brown. Add ginger garlic paste to it and fry for 1 min.
4. Add turmeric powder and chick peas , mix well and fry for 2 min.
5. Now add tomatoes,red chilli powder, salt and water for gravy and mix well.
6. Cover the pan and allow to cokk on meduim heat for 10 min.
7. Add coriander powder,garam masala powder and dry coriander and mix all the ingredients well.
8. Allow to cook for 2 or 3 min more, so that all spices mix well with chick peas.
9. Finally, add lime juice, mix well and sim for 1 min and remove from the heat.
10. Garnish with tomotoes,onions and some more coriander if want.

Labels: chickpea, chole, curries, curry, vegetable, vegetable dishes

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments

Yesterday evening , there was lack of time and I wanted to make some thing which takes less time and also goes well with chapathis. Usually, we take chapathis for dinner. And we like some thing dry and also can be taken with chapathis. Then I thought of making this simple, yet delicious and spicy curry i.e., Gobi Zabzi (or) Cauliflower Curry what ever name it is give in different languages, it has its own flavour. This time I prefered to present this recipe with more photographs, unlike I do. My request to all fellow bloggers and who ever view this recipe is, do tell me wheather a recipe with more photographs is good way to understand it or less photographs and in detail recipe is good. This will help me in presenting further recipes. Thank You!

Ingredients:

Cut cauliflower into different florets. Boil cauliflower in water to its level, till it starts boiling. Remove from the heat once its start boiling because, if it boils more, then it produces some sort of smell, which does'nt taste well when cooked. Or else you can put cauliflower in hot water for some time. Then drain them and keep aside. Heat oil in a wok, add cumin ,fennel seeds and red chillies. Allow them to splutter.

Now stir the contents well, so that salt mix well with them. Allow to cook on low heat for 2 or 3 min and add coriander and mix again. Once you see cauliflower is dry and all the spices mixed well, remove from heat. Here you can take one floret and taste, so that you can add salt if you want:-)

Note: This goes well with chapathis also serves best as a side dish. You can also enjoy with plain rice. This taste little sweet in depth, though it does'nt contain any sugar. That is due to fennel seeds.

Labels: cauliflower, cauliflower curry, curries, curry, gobi, gobi sabzi, vegetable, vegetable dishes

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments

Today, since its a weekend(Happy friday), I thought of making some thing apart from rice and enjoy it along with a movie.So, I made Aloo kurma and Puri, which are easy and does'nt need any prior preparations.We were watching "Bombay to Goa" movie.yeah! It's an Amithab Bhachan movie.We were wordering, seeing him so young and thin and tall.It seems after this movie only he got his first break as full fleged hero in "Zanzeer".It is always pleasant to watch old movies.Haa..now coming back to my recipe "Aloo kurma", here is the preparation.

Ingredients
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3 potatoes (peeled, cut into small cubes and washed)
1/2 cup frozen or fresh peas(fresh need to be boiled separately, to avoid delay while cooking)
1 small size onion (cut into thin slices)
3 Tomatoes (cut into thin slices)
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp kuskus (gasagasalu)
1 tsp fresh coconut powder
1 tsp coriander powder( dhaniya powder)
1/4 tsp Garam masala
1/2 cup fresh coriander (washed and cut into small)
Salt as required
Oil as required

Method
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1. Heat oil in a container for few seconds then add onions and fry till light brown in color.
2. Add peas,potatoes and fry for some time.Add ginger garlic paste and turmeric to it and fry for few more minutes.
3. Add tomatoes and salt and allow to cook on medium heat till potatoes become little tender.
4.Now add red chilli powder,coriander powder,garam masala powder and little water if needed and cook for some time till all spices mixed well with other ingredients.
5.Now finally add coconut powder,kuskus and fresh coriander and cook for some more time.
6.Finally you can add some lemon juice(1/2 tsp) which is optional.



Goes well with puri (also with rice and chapathis).

Labels: aaloo, aloo, aloo kurma, curries, curry, kurma, potato, vegetable, vegetable dishes

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments