Tag Archives: asian food

You will need :

1 cup basmati rice
1 cup chickpeas boiled (can use tinned chickpeas)
2-3 tsp oil
4-5 slit green chillies
1 big onion finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
1 tsp cumin seeds
salt to taste

Spices:

1/2 tsp whole black pepper
1/4 tsp cloves
2-3 small cinnamon bark
2-3 star anise
4-5 green whole cardamom
2-3 black cardamom
3-4 bay leaves

Method:

Wash the rice with cold water and put it a side to soak for half an hour. Heat the oil in a heavy bottom pan or kadai, add the sliced onion and fry until light brown. Now add all the whole spices and green chillies. After 2-3 minutes add chopped tomatoes and boiled chick peas, cook for another 3-4 minutes. Add soaked rice without water and mix well. Now add 1 cup of hot water and salt and lower the heat. Cover with the lid and cook rice until tender. If needed, add another 2-3 tsp water and keep cooking the rice. Now add cumin seeds and cover the rice again with a lid. Now simmer the rice 3-4 minutes on a very low heat. Turn the heat off and leave the rice cool for 5 minutes.

Serve with yogurt, pickle and papad and enjoy!

Today I would like to share with you a new dish, that was novel to me too until a few weeks ago.

Many people have a certain mental image of daal when they hear the word. When I saw the recipe for this daal on TV, I was itching to try it. It is something new, yet beautifully Indian and homely!
When I served it for the first time, I received the thumbs up from everyone at the table. My daughter in particular loves this daal. She says it is different to any other daal she has ever eaten before.
I will definitely keep this daal on my menu and I hope you will do so too once you have tried it.

You will need:

(These lentils are widely available in most supermarkets and Indian grocers).

• 1 cup Toor daal ( split pigeon pea daal )
• 1 cup Chana daal
• 1/2 cup Moong daal ( yellow daal )
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp ghee – clarified butter (vegans can use oil)
• 1 tsp tamarind pulp or lemon juice
• handful freshly chopped coriander

For seasoning:

• 1 tsp ghee
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• pinch of asafoetida (hing)
• few curry leaves
• 3-4 cloves of garlic chopped
• 4-5 bulb chillies

Method:

Mix all the daals, wash them and place them in a big pan. Then, add 5-6 cups of water, salt, ghee and turmeric powder. Make sure the mixture is stirred well, then bring it to a boil and let it simmer for half an hour. Cook the daal until it is tender. Add the tamarind pulp or lemon juice and then turn off the heat.

Seasoning:

In a small pan heat ghee add seeds, hing, curry leaves, garlic and bulb chillies. Once the seeds have popped, add them to the cooked daal. Stir well and garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot with steamy rice.

Onion bhajis are one of  Britain’s most popular and most frequently consumed Indian snacks. They have a unique and sensational flavour to them. Here in the United Kingdom they are eaten as starter or side dish in Indian restaurants along with poppadoms and chutney, pickle and mint sauce. In India, onion bhaji top the comfort food list when it comes to monsoon and rain season. They are generally relished with a hot coffee or tea.

In my family we adore onion bhajis, and here is my version of it .

You will need:

• 4 medium onions sliced vertically and horizontally
• 2 spring onions chopped
• 1 medium carrot grated
• 2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
• 2-3 fresh green chillies finely chopped
• salt to taste
• 1 cup gram flour (same as a chickpea flour or besan)
• 2 tsp rice flour
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• oil for deep fry
• 2-3 tbsp water
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method:

Mix all the ingredients except th oil, salt, water and bicarbonate of soda. Let it stand for 10 min.
In the meanwhile heat the oil in a heavy bottom pan on a medium heat or in a deep fat fryer. Once the oil reaches a temperature of around 180 C, turn the heat down.
Now add water, salt and bicarbonate of soda to the onion bhaji mix and mix it well. The bhaji batter should be thick at this stage. Now add 2 tsp of hot oil into the batter and mix with a spoon.

Make a loose dumpling and drop it into the hot oil. If the batter rises quickly, the oil is ready to make more bhajis. Start making dumplings and fry them over medium heat, turn them with a slotted spoon and allow them to cook well.
Pierce them with a knife a few times, so they cook very well inside and cook them until they turn golden brown. Remove the bhajis with a slotted spoon and drain the oil. Before frying the next batch, taste the bhajis and adjust seasoning accordingly. Make small dumplings with the remainder of the mixture and deep fry in batches until all the bhajis are cooked well.

Serve hot with mint raita and enjoy!

Tawa Rice has a very unique spicy flavour with the secret ingredient to achieving this being Pavbhaji masala. Pavbhaji masala is used to make the very typical popular street food Pav-Bhaji.

You will need:

• 2 cup cooked basmati rice (grains should be separate)
• 1 cup of boiled or steamed vegetables like carrots, peas, sweetcorn, cauliflower and green beans
• 1 capsicum – chopped
• 1 big onion finely – chopped
• 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
• 2 red tomatoes chopped
• salt to taste
• 3-4 green chillies
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 3 tbsp oil or butter
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder (optional)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp pav bhaji masala

Method:

Heat oil or butter in a heavy bottom or non stick pan. Then add the cumin seeds. Subsequently, add the chopped onions, sauté until the onions turn glassy.  Now add the ginger-garlic paste and add green chillies. After a few minutes add mixed vegetables and capsicum with salt and cook for about 3-4 minutes until the capsicum turns tender. Now add the tomatoes. Once the tomatoes  have become soft and start loosing water, add the turmeric powder, red chilli powder and the pav bhaji masala. Now mix in the cooked rice. Combine well until the rice is nicely mixed with the spice mixture.

Serve hot with some raita and enjoy!

Also, visit Jagruti’s website for more recipes.