Moongfali-Lahsun ki sookhi chutney/ Peanut-garlic dry chutney

This is one chutney which you would either love wholeheartedly or dislike totally. I, for, one just love it. It goes best with daal- chawal but can uplift any other mundane roti-sabzi routine. The good news is that you can store it for a month or more and can just whisk it out to make meals more interesting. I generally end up devouring half of the newly made chutney then and there and hardly have enough left to store for a month!

Ingredients:

Dry roasted peanuts - 1 cup

Dry red chillies - 4-6 

Garlic cloves - 6-7

Roasted sesame seeds (optional)- 1 tablespoon

Whole cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Salt - to taste

Way to go:

1. Dry roast the peanuts on a slow flame. When they start splitting, they are done. Let them cool. Traditionally, they are skinned but out of laziness and no-wastage policy, I don't skin them.
2. Put all ingredients together and blend to a coarse powder.
3. Store in an air-tight container.

Tips:

1. If you have washed garlic or chillies, make sure they are totally dry before blending.
2. Adjust the quantity of garlic and chillies according to your taste.

Baingan-aloo ki sabzi/ Brinjal-potato curry

A classmate of mine once said "I like anything which is cooked well." I agree. There are people who have permanently crossed off brinjal from their shopping list. I feel they miss something. When cooked right, brinjal can be lip-smackingly delicious. I once ate a starter made of fried brinjal, tomato and onion. I could have made a whole meal out of that dish, had I not paid 500 bucks for the buffet. I made it a point to take the recipe from resort's chef but I haven't tried it yet. That recipe will have to wait but here is a simple recipe for regular sabzi. I like it as it is a very homely, no-fuss and delicious sabzi.

Ingredients:

Brinjal - 250 gms

Tomatoes - 1.5 medium

Potato - 1 medium

Onion- 1 small

Garlic cloves - 3-4

Oil - 2 tsp

Asafotida- a pinch

Cumin seeds- 1 tsp

Chilly powder - 1/4 or 1/2 tsp 

Coriader powder - 2 tsp

Salt- to taste

Amla powder or amchoor powder - 1/2 tsp

Garam masala- 1/4 tsp ( I used kitchen king)

Water- 1/4 cup

Way to go:

1. Dice brinjal, potatoes and tomatoes in medium-sized cubes. Onions and garlic to be chopped finer.

2. Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add asafoetida and then cumin seeds when the oil is warm enough.

3. Add onions, tomatoes, garlic. Saute for 3 minutes. 

4. Add diced brinjal and potatoes. 

5. Add all the spices except khatai and garam masala. Mix well.

6. Pour water, mix and close the lid.

7. After 2-3 whistles, remove from fire. When the cooker cools down, open and add khatai and garam masala. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves, if you so wish.

8. Serve hot with chapatis. I guess it can go with rice too but being North Indians, I pair it with phulkas. 

Tips:

1. As curry leaves have many health benefits, my Mom keeps dried curry leaf powder in her spice box. You can make this powder easily by drying curry leaves in shade and powdering it. Add 1 tsp of this powder when you add all spices.

2. You can sprinkle flax-seed powder in the end too as it has many health benefits.

Sooji uttapam/ Semolina pancakes

I ate these uttapams at a friend's place when I was newly married and was learning to cook. I was quite impressed with her cooking skills as they were quite good. Now many years later, these uttapams are a staple in my kitchen.They are quick to make, good to eat, quite filling and nutritious too.  I cook them every week if not more. In fact, the credit for these becoming a staple goes to my many failed attempts to set curd. Earlier, I wasn't able to set curd well. Sometimes it got too sour and sometimes stringy. I am against wasting stuff. Hence came sooji uttapam to my rescue - my knight in shining armour. I just added sooji to curd, threw some veggies in, seasoned with salt and pepper and the batter was good to go to the skillet.

Ingredients:

Sooji or semolina - 1 cup
Curd - 1 cup
Tomato, onion, capsicum, green chillies, coriander - finely chopped
Carrot, cabbage - grated
Salt - to taste
Black pepper (freshly ground) - to taste

Way to go:

1. Mix sooji and curd. Set aside for half an hour to one hour. There have been instances when I have used the mix immediately but I like the soaked version better.
2. Start chopping veggies and add to the batter.
3. When you are ready to make uttapams, check the batter consistency. The sooji might have soaked all moisture from curd. Add a little water or whey to thin it. The batter should be on the thicker side but with a dropping consistency. 
4. Heat a tawa for 2 minutes. I use a cast iron tawa from Udupi which was generously gifted to me by a dear friend. You can always use a non-stick one. Spread a teaspoon of oil before putting on the batter.
5. Put a dollopful of batter and spread it. Drizzle oil lightly on the sides. Let it sit for 3 minutes or so and then flip it. (If you are cooking it in a non-stick pan, you can try the flipping-in-the-air trick.This cast-iron tawa doesn't have a handle so sadly, I can't show off my skills anymore!) Roast on the other side for 2-3 minutes till brown.
6. Serve with a chutney of your choice or ketchup.

Tips:

Uttapams might break in first couple of rounds. This might be because of
1. Thin batter - Add some more sooji and try again.
2. Tawa - Many times, my first uttapam, dosa or cheela doesn't turn out well but the rest of them are good. The tawa takes time to get seasoned, I guess. So keep trying and you will master it sooner or later.
3. If everything fails, you can still roast the batter on the tawa. Even if it breaks, it will be edible and will taste good.

Besan ki bharwa mirchi/ Stuffed green chillies

This is one Rajasthani recipe loved by all. No prizes for guessing the star of this recipe. It's besan (gramflour) which tastes great in any form.

Ingredients:
Big light green chillies : 8-10
Oil: 2 tbsp
Asafoetida: a pinch
Mustard: 1 tsp
For the stuffing:
Gram flour(besan): 1 cup
Coriander powder: 1 tbsp
Red chilly powder: 1tsp
Turmeric powder: 1 tsp
Dry mango powder/ Dry amla powder: 1 tsp
Fennel seeds: 1tsp
Salt: 2 tsp
Sugar: 1 tsp
Oil: 1 tbsp

Way to go:
1. Wash chillies and pat them dry. Slit vertically at the middle and shake out seeds. (Seeds are what make chillies hot so if you love it spicy, retain them)
2. Mix all ingredients and stuff chillies.

3. Heat oil in a non-stick pan. When hot enough, add asafoetida and mustard seeds. Let the mustard seeds crackle.
4. Add stuffed chillies. Cover the pan and cook on low flame. Keep turning every 3-4 minutes so that they get cooked evenly.
5. If you have stuffing mix leftover after filling all the chillies, add it to the pan just 5 minutes before turning off the flame. It will give extra masala which is always welcome.
6. Enjoy with hot phulkas or parathas.

Tips:
1. Another way to prepare the stuffing is by roasting gramflour in oil. Ingredients remain the same. That turns out to be great too.
2. Some people tie each chilly with a string so that the stuffing doesn't come out! The string is removed once the chillies are cooked.
3. These stuffed chillies can easily be stored in refrigerator for 4-5 days.
4. You can stuff chillies with a mix of potatoes too. I will soon upload the recipe.

Amla-dhaniya chutney/ Gooseberry-coriander chutney

It's the season of gooseberries and they beckon me from every veggie shop. I guiltily avoid them.....I know they are packed with amazing goodness and would do a lot of good to my hair, eyes and skin but I haven't found an easy way to incorporate them in daily cooking. My mom reminds me to eat this wonder fruit all the time (do moms ever give up?!) and she herself makes lots of goodies with it but I never was keen to work too hard. Because of her encouragement (and the fact that she packed dried gooseberry slices) I have started using gooseberry powder in lieu of amchoor (dried mango powder) to season vegetables. But to use fresh gooseberry was still a challenge.

So it was manna from heaven when I stumbled upon this simple chutney recipe at a friend's place. Shruti had invited me for an afternoon where our kids could play together and we could chat over lunch. She served this coriander chutney which I simply loved. What was interesting here was that she had used fresh gooseberry for the required sourness. Now let me tell you that I have a weakness for chutneys.The going-weak-in-the-knees kind of weakness. I love sampling them and why not! Chutneys are perfect accompaniments to many Indian savouries. You can easily elevate a dish from mediocre to excellent on shoulders of a yummy chutney. I am also fascinated with the repertoire of chutney recipes that each Indian household has. So it was natural that I ended up asking the recipe. Soon enough, I made this chutney as an accompaniment to aloo-bada when I invited a friend for tea. She enjoyed them both and complimented profusely. I was bursting to tell her about the gooseberry secret because there's no higher thrill than to make something healthy which is yummy too. Without further ado, let me share the easy recipe here. 

Ingredients:
Coriander leaves - a medium bunch
Mint leaves - a handful
Green chillies - 2
Amla- 4-5
Garlic- 4-5 cloves ( optional)
Cumin seeds- 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - to taste

Way to go:
1.Clean the coriander bunch. Discard the bottom part which has roots, look through for any foreign leaves and soak the coriander in water. I retain all the stems unless they are too thick. Pluck mint leaves and soak along with coriander. I don't use mint stems because they give a bitter taste. Wash thoroughly and rinse under running water. Do the last rinse with potable water because chutneys being uncooked, it's best to be safe.
2. Chop gooseberries roughly.
3. Throw everything together in a mixer and blend till you get a fine paste. If required, you can add a little water while blending.
4. You can pair this chutney with samosas, aloo-badas, parathas, sandwiches etc. etc.
5. Refrigerate and use within a week.

Enjoy this healthy and delicious chutney in winters.