Simple Potato Upkari

The recipe for my favorite potato dish. When i have the appetite to eat something really simple, this has always been one of my favorite ones! 

(Upkari means the kind of dish Konkanis have as a side dish with rice.)

Can be had as a side dish with rice, or also with chapatis. Can be rolled into the chapati and eaten on the way when late to work! ;-)

Time needed - 15-20 min.

Serves three people.

Ingredients -

3 medium sized potatoes
2 dried red chillies
2 green chillies
1 tspn mustard seeds
coconut scrapings(optional)
vegetable oil
salt to taste


Method -

• Add about 6 tspn oil to the pan and let it heat. After a minute, add 1 tspn mustard seeds to it. Once it starts popping, add crushed red chillies to it and mix to fry. 

• Then add the already cut green chillies to it and mix. Now add the potatoes which are cut to the pan and mix well. (Once you cut the potatoes keep it soaked in water or it turns black. Drain the water out and then add it to the pan) Add some water to the pan for cooking or the potatoes will burn. Water enough to cover the base with a little depth should be enough. Then cover the lid to cook.

• After about 5 min, lift the lid, add some coconut scrapings(optional). Also add salt and mix. If the water has evaporated and the potato is still hard, add some more water accordingly. Then cover the lid again to cook.

• Check if the potatoes are cooked by tasting. Switch the flame off and serve!

 

Try it out yourself and mail me a picture of your preparation to princesspranita@gmail.com, and i will flaunt it on my blog. Looking forward to your valuable feedback. 

Cheers!

Aam Ras - Nectar from mangoes... Slurp!

Recipe for Aam-Ras. I like to call it Mango-Nectar.

One of the yummiest items which is best in summers. Puris along with Aam-Ras is the best combination. Can be eaten with bread, chapatis too. Or can be had just plain from a bowl. Extremely delicious.


Time needed - 30 minutes.

Ingredients -

Mangoes
Milk
Sugar
Cardamom powder





Method -

• Squeeze the pulp out of the mangoes into a vessel.

• Add a little water to get the required consistency. It needs to be thick, not juice like.

•  Taste the pulp and add sugar according to your needs. If the mangoes are sour, you' ll need more sugar.

•  Mix the sugar and then add some milk.

•  Not too much. Just enough to get the proper taste and consistency.

•  Mix well and then sprinkle the cardamom(elaichi) powder over it and mix again.

•  Keep the vessel in the fridge. Let it cool. Serve it chilled and enjoy.

Try it out yourself and mail me a picture of your preparation to princesspranita@gmail.com, and i will flaunt it on my blog. Looking forward to your valuable feedback. 

Cheers!

Ghee Rice/Jeera Rice

Here's the recipe for Ghee rice/Jeera rice. This can be made in a way that can be eaten plain, or by having dal/dal fry along.

Recipe for dal fry and plain dal. 

Both the variations are explained.

Time needed : 30 min

The measures used in this post serves for three.








Ingredients :

5 cloves
2 cardamom
Crushed pepper
Cinnamon
1 tspn cumin seeds
2 green chillies
2 onions
turmeric powder
2 cups(about 400g) basmati rice
Green peas
8 tspn vegetable oil
2 tspn ghee


Method :

• Take 2 cups of rice in a bowl and wash it atleast twice. And let the water drain. Keep it aside for later use.

• Add 8 tspn vegetable oil and 2 tspn ghee to the pan. Let it heat for two minutes on medium flame. Then add 1 tspn cumin seeds(jeera) and wait till the popping sounds start.

• Then add the other spices viz. cloves, cardamom, crushed pepper, cinnamon (qty mentioned above). Also add the 2 chillies chopped finely and mix well for about 2 min.

•  Then add the sliced onions to it and mix well. Let it turn a golden brown color.

•  Now sprinkle a pinch of turmeric salt(haldi) and enough salt. Mix well for 2 more minutes. (If you are making it to have with dal fry, then add less salt since dal fry has salt too, and there's a risk of the combination getting really salty. But if you are making the rice to have it plain, then add more salt)

•  Add the rice grains kept aside to the pan and mix. Mix it delicately. We do not want to break the grains.

•  Fry the rice for about 4 min. And then add the green peas to it.

•  Then add 5 cups of water to the pan, mix and cover the lid.

• Once it starts steaming, place the whistle and increase the flame fully. Once the whistle blows, reduce the flame to a minimum and let the rice cook for about 2-3 min more and then switch off the flame. Open the lid when the whistle comes off easily.

•  Serve with dal fry if you added less salt. Else you could have it with tomato sauce. Whatever suits you!

Try it out yourself and mail me a picture of your preparation to princesspranita@gmail.com, and i will flaunt it on my blog. Looking forward to your valuable feedback. 

Cheers!

Recipe for both SIMPLE DAL and DAL FRY.

This is one of those food items that forms a part of almost every meal in India. It goes with everything, be it rice, roti etc. I've even seen people just drink dal in a cup. Anyway i like having dal with rice the most. Goes really well with ghee rice whose preparation i'm gonna cover in the next post.

Though this recipe is for dal fry, the first few steps are sufficient to make simple plain dal. So you will learn how to prepare both dal and dal fry at the end of this post. 

Time needed : 

For plain dal - 15 min

For dal fry    - 30-40 min

The following measures used in this post serves for three.

Ingredients :

1 cup(about 200 g) yellow dal

5 medium sized green chillies

3 garlic cloves

Ginger piece(refer the picture below for quantity)

5 small tomatoes

2 onions

1 lemon

8 tspn vegetable oil

1 tspn cumin seeds(jeera) 

Chilli powder

Turmeric powder

Method :

• Wash 1 cup yellow dal and place in the cooker.

• Add some water to it to cook the dal. Look at the picture below for an idea. Shut the lid and cook on medium flame.

• Once it starts steaming heavily, place the whistle on top of it. When the whistle starts blowing, reduce the flame to a minimum for about 2 minutes and then switch it off. After a while, when the whistle comes out easily, churn the dal with a churner. Add water if needed till you get the desired consistency.

• If you just add salt at this stage, you can have the normal plain dal. But if dal fry is what you intend to make, then keep this aside for using later.
• Take a mixer jar and add the chillies, garlic and ginger(quantity mentioned above) to it.

•  Make a paste out of it. Refer to the picture below.

•  Transfer the paste out of the jar and keep aside for using later on. Add the tomatoes to the jar after cutting them up into several pieces. 

•  Run the mixer and get a tomato puree.

•  Keep it aside. Take a pan, add about 8 tspn of vegetable oil. After heating the oil for about 2 min, add 1 tspn of jeera. As soon as the popping sounds start, add the chilly-garlic-ginger paste you prepared previously and mix so that nothing burns.

•  Add the chopped onions to the pan and mix well. Once the onion turns nearly golden brown, add about 2tspn red chilli powder and a pinch of turmeric powder(haldi) and mix.

•  Now add the tomato puree to the pan and mix for about 3-4 minutes. Watch the color of the puree change a little.

• Add the cooked dal to the pan and mix. Add some water if needed to get the consistency required. Make sure you don't add too much water. Less is ok, you can add water later too. But if you add too much, you'll compromise the taste.

• Cover the pan and let the contents boil at medium flame. Once the contents start boiling, add crushed coriander leaves and mix.(Coriander leaves can be used to garnish while serving too.) Let the contents boil really well and then turn off the flame.

•  Dal fry is ready to be served with ghee rice which will be covered in my next post.

Try it out yourself and mail me a picture of your preparation to princesspranita@gmail.com, and i will flaunt it on my blog. Looking forward to your valuable feedback. 

Cheers!

Lady's Finger Bhaaji.

This dish is one of my most favorite ones. Bhindi / lady's finger...! A beautiful vegetable to cook with. Go ahead, and try this out. You know you want to... ;-)

Time needed : 10-15 min

The following measures used in this post serves for two.

Ingredients :

About 20 huge lady's fingers (depends really! Do your math keeping in mind that after cooking, lady's fingers get really soft and squishy and the quantity seems to be really less when compared to the quantity in your bowl before cooking them.)
5 dried red chillies
6 tspn vegetable oil 
1 tspn mustard seeds
1/2 tspn turmeric powder(haldi)(optional)

Method :

• Chop the lady's fingers anyway you like. Refer to my pictures for how i did it. Keep it aside for later use. Also crush the 5 dried red chillies with your hand and keep it aside.

• Add about 6 tspn oil to the pan and heat it for about 2-3 min. Then add 1 tspn mustard seeds and let it fry. When it starts making popping sounds, add the crushed chillies to it and mix quickly else the chillies will burn. (You have to add the chillies as soon as the popping sounds start. If you wait for it to stop, while you add chillies, your mustard seeds will burn and give out a strange taste.)

•  Add the chopped lady's fingers to the pan and mix quickly, or the chillies will burn.

• Now add 1/2 tspn turmeric powder(haldi) for the flavor. Do not add too much, it will compromise the taste. Also add appropriate amount of salt and mix well. Sprinkle a little water. Do not pour, just sprinkle. Not much because lady's fingers do not need much water to cook. Just sprinkle a few spoons and mix.

• Close the pan with a lid and cook on low flame. Make sure it's on low flame or these contents will stick to the pan and burn. Check after 3-4 minutes and mix. 
• Take a spoon and taste a piece to check if it's soft enough to be eaten. If not let it cook a minute more or two. This vegetable cooks really fast, so do not go away for long!
• Serve with hot chapatis or as a side dish with rice.  

Try it out yourself and mail me a picture of your preparation to princesspranita@gmail.com, and i will flaunt it on my blog. Looking forward to your valuable feedback. 

Cheers!

 

Raw/Vegetable Banana Bhaaji - Andhra Style

This is a very simple and yummy item and can be cooked in a very short time. Mom says it's an Andhra style dish, though i don't understand what that means. But i love the taste of this cuisine and that's why i learnt it and i think you should try it out for yourself before deciding whether you like it or not. 
Time needed : 10-15 min

The following measures used in this post serves for two.





Ingredients : 

1 vegetable banana(raw banana)
1 onion
1 green chilly
2 red dried chillies( 3 green chillies can be used too instead of 1+2, or 3 red chillies will do too. As per your convenience)
1 garlic clove 1 tspn cumin seeds(jeera)
8 tspn vegetable oil

Method :
 

• Chop the banana in your preferred shape. For thickness, refer to the picture far down for an idea. Keep it aside to be used later.

• Add the finely chopped onion to the mixer jar. Also add the chillies and the garlic clove to it.
• Whip the contents, but make sure it doesn't turn into a paste. We just need it to be crushed enough. Refer the picture for a better understanding.
• Then keep this aside to be used at a later stage. 

•  Now add about 8tspn vegetable oil to a pan and let it heat on medium flame for about a minute.
• Then add about 1tspn cumin seeds(jeera) and let it be till it makes popping sounds.

• Once the sounds stop, add the contents from the mixer jar to the pan and mix well.
• Fry the onion till it's a little golden brown.

•  Then add the chopped banana pieces to it and mix well. 

•  Sprinkle a little water to help cooking. But make sure you don't add a lot of water. It'll make the bhaji soggy. We need the pieces to be cooked but intact in shape. So Just sprinkle enough to keep the food from burning by sticking to the base of the pan. Look below for an idea.

• Add a pinch of turmeric powder(haldi) for a beautiful yellow. Do not add too much or it will compromise the taste.
• Cover the pan with a lid and let it cook. Occasionally stir the contents to prevent the contents from burning by sticking to the base of the pan.

• After about 5 minutes, use a spoon and cut through a piece of the banana to check if it's cooked. Taste it to confirm. If it's still hard, then let it cook for a minute or two. 
• Switch off the flame and serve it hot with chapatis or rice.

Try it out yourself and mail me a picture of your preparation to princesspranita@gmail.com, and i will flaunt it on my blog. Looking forward to your valuable feedback. 

Cheers!