Stir fried Swiss Chard

Stir Fried Red Swiss Chard

Coming to the US, I have made peace with my heart, mind and stomach that not all Indian vegetables will be available here but that I should make do with the locally available produce and use them as much as possible. Growing up, I used to eat lots of greens or rather my mom used to make me eat them, but in all fairness, they were delicious. One day while yapping to my friends about the dearth of "Indian" greens over here, someone mentioned Red Swiss Chard which is similar to a type of green leafy vegetable we get in Indian. So I drove to my farmers market, got me someof those colorful looking leaves and planned out the menu for lunch. They tasted somewhat similar to the bhaajii I used to eat in India but needed more onion and garlic. I liked it. S hates greens as it is. Duckie was suspicious but ate some of it. The verdict..??? This is now a regular at my house for lunch.:))

Recipe:
1 bunch of swiss chard
4 cloves of garlic- i love garlic
1/2 onion
2 tsp oil
pinch of asafoetida
salt to taste
sugar to taste
note: I rarely ever add any spices in greens. I love them simple, stir fried with onions and garlic.
Preparation:
Heat oil in a pan, add asafoetida when hot. Then add garlic and brown it a little. Then add onion and let it cook completely. Then add the swiss chard leaves and cook them till wilted and they lose the bitter taste. Add salt and sugar according to taste. This type of grrens doesnot handle reheating very well. So make this just before eating and serve hot with a side of yogurt, chappati or rice.
Enjoy
Dipti

POTATO GRAVY

"Rajasthani" Potato Gravy
I had this Potato gravy while visiting Jaipur and other cities of Rajasthan. My father-in-law loves this potato gravy. So, my ingenous MIL created this gravy on a whim and it turned out very good. Thanks to my MIL for this great and simple recipe.

This gravy doesnot have any complex masalas but the basic stuff you ALWAYS have in your pantry. How come something so delicious could be created from something so simple??? Well, the answer is in the process of cooking, having fun with it and hoping for a great taste:). We had Satyavinayak puja at our place in June. I was finalizing the menu. Had almost decided to go ahead and make chole-puri for 40 guests. Then MIL made this awesome gravy one day. And thats it. I immediately fell in love with it, begged my MIL to make THIS gravy for the puja. Graciously she agreed. Cooking for 40 guests is no easy feat. But we all helped and she managed it. This potato gravy was the main star of my menu. Everyone loved it. My friends begged for the recipe. MIL got dozens of compliments. My party was a BIG success thanks to MIL and this gravy. Everyone loved it so much that hardly any was left for my husband and his brother (the last dinner eaters). This humble and nonpretentious potato gravy is best served hot with hot puris.

Recipe:
2 large potatoes
1 medium onion
1 tomato
1 1/2 tsp corriander powder
3/4 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
pinch of asafoetida
salt to taste
3 tsps oil
handful cilantro -washed and chopped

Preparation:
Boil the potatoes till more than fork tender. This is best done in a pressure cooker and then keeping it on low flame for 10-15 mins before turning off the gas. Peel and chop them into chunks. Dice the tomato and the onion.
Take a kadai and heat oil in it. Once hot, add asafoetida and then mustard seeds. Let the seeds sputter and then add cumin seeds. Add onion and start cooking them. Once they are half -way done then add corriander powder and cumin seeds. Fry the onions on medium-high flame till you get the masala smell and the oil starts seperating. Once the onions are cooked add tomatoes, turmeric and red chili powder and salt. Cover and cook till oil starts seperating from the mixture. Then add the potatoes. Cover and let it cook completely. Add little water to get gravy like consistency. Add the garam masala powder and mix well. Garnish with cilantro.
Serve hot with puris
Enjoy
Dipti

Potato bhaji for Fasting

Duckie loves this potato bhaji!!!


This is a very easy potato bhaaji to make. Ingredients like peanuts, cumin seeds, cilantro, green chillies, coconut, clarified butter (ghee), apart from the usual potato make this very wholesome ( by this I mean contains carbs, proteins, vitamins) and perfect for fasting. But at my place we eat it with plain chappatis too. This is a perfect blend of spice-sweetness-saltiness and a potato lover's ( S, my husband's) delight.
Thanks to my MIL for this recipe,

Recipe
2 Large potatoes
1/2 cup roasted coarse peanut powder
4-5 green chillies minced finely-remove the seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 cup shredded coconut
handful cilantro-washed and chopped
3-4 tsp clarified butter
salt to taste
sugar to taste

Preparation:
Pressure cook the potatoes till tender. De-skin them and chop them into medium pieces. Apply salt and sugar per taste to this. Add peanut powder and minced chillies to the potatoes. Heat a large heavy bottom pan and add clarified butter to it. Once hot, add the cumin seeds and when they start sputtering add the entire potato mix to the pot. Mix well. Then add coconut to this and mix well again. Cover and let it cook till it steams. Turn of the gas and garnish with cilantro. Serve hot with chappatis or even as it is. Top with cold yogurt to balance the heat of the chillies.
Enjoy
Dipti

Potato Dosa Bhaaji

I have no idea about the rest of India, but atleast in Maharashtra, masala dosas are served with "Potato Bhaaji". I cant say that I love the bhaaji because if its not there, I wont miss it. But S loves this bhaaji. For him, this boiled potato mish-mash is a must with sadha dosas. I have no idea about the origin of this bhaaji or how it came to be served with dosas. But some smart person probably served this bhaaji with not so crispy dosa and gave the name Masala Dosas.

Now in restaurants, traditionally, the dosa served with this bhaaji is smaller in size than sadha dosa and little thick but soft. The bhaaji is filled inside the dosa and is meant to be eaten the way you would eat roti-saabzi. Just to make life easier for me, I serve this bhaaji on the side instead of as a filling.

Recipe
2 large potatoes
2 medium onions
1 large tomato
1 tsp urad dal
10-15 curry leaves
4 whole red chillies
1 inch ginger - grated
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric
salt to taste
oil for cooking
hing/asafotedia pinch only
handful cilantro

Preparation:
Boil the potatoes. They should be tender enough to be pierced by a fork. Peel them and dice them into large pieces because they cook and break into small pieces at the last stage of cooking. Peel and dice the onions into medium pieces. Dice the tomato into medium pieces. apart from the potato, its the mish mash of onions, tomato and the seasonings that flavor the Bhaaji and are more fun to eat.

Cooking: warm up the oil in a kadai. When the oil is hot, add the asafotedia first. Then add the mustard seeds. When they are done sputtering, add the red chillies, curry leaves, ginger and urad dal together. Then add the turmeric. Roast it a little. Then add the onoins and roast it a little. Cover the kadai and let the onions cook. Make sure sure that they remain translucent and dont turn brown. Move the entire seasonings and onions to the sides of the kadai in a ring and put the diced tomato in centre. This will ensure that the curry leaves, ginger, urad dal etc donot get over cooked but just the tomato gets cooked - same principle as a wok. After the tomato is cooked, mix everything together and season it with salt. Adding salt at this stage ensures better mixing than when potatoes are added. Add potatoes and mix properly. Cover the kadai and let it steam out once. Turn of the gas/burner and then garnish it with cilantro. This just ensures that cilantro doesnt lose its flavor or color.
This bhaaji can be prepared well in advance for the meal. But sometimes the potatoes get over cooked. So I cook the bhaaji till the salt stage and then during dinner time, I heat up the entire kadai again and then add potatoes and cilantro. Doing this, there is no reheating of food and overcooking.

When you eat the bhaaji, there should be a subtle taste of ginger and curry leaves.
Serve the bhaaji on side with sadha dosa or serve it as a Masala Dosa.
For Masala Dosa:
Recipe, preparation same as sadha dosa. Only when cooking the dosas, instead of making them very thin, make it little thick. When the dosa is cooked on the pan, before removing it, place a generous heaping of bhaaji on the centre and close the dosa as a semi circle. Maneuver it expertly, remove the dosa + filling from the pan and serve it on a plate with sambar and chutney.
Happy Eating!