Smoked Brinjal/Eggplant - Baingan ka Bharta (Punjabi style)

I grew up around cosmopolitan cultures in Dubai, UAE and had good Punjabi friends. Of course, once I got married I met a lot more Punjabi people who are my husband's friends and are now very good friends of mine as well.

I have always loved Punjabi food. Lassi and Punjabi samosas top that list for me :)

This recipe comes after trying out the several variants of Baingan ka Bharta. I love the Punjabi variant thus far. The eggplant is first roasted before being mashed.

You need:

• 4 medium sized brinjals/eggplants
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 medium sized onions, sliced finely
• 2 tbsp garlic paste
• 1" ginger, finely grated
• 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped finely
• 2 green chilies, chopped finely (or sliced if you don't want it spiced)
• 2 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped
• Some coriander leaves for garnish
• Oil - 1 tbsp or as required
• Drinking water - as required
• Salt to taste

The Make
Preparation time: 10 minutes | Cooking Time: 10-15 minutes | Serves 3-4 adults

1. Roast the eggplant on all sides either on the gas top or on your grill or in your oven. The resultant eggplant's external skin would be charred and the flesh internally would be soft.
2. Once all the eggplants are roasted, set aside to cool. Once cooled, peel of the skin and coarsely mash up the softened flesh of the eggplants.
3. Heat oil in a non-stick pan or a wok and splutter the cumin seeds.
4. On medium-low heat, add the onions and fry till translucent. Next add the garlic, ginger and green chilis and fry for a minute.
5. Add the chopped tomatoes, powdered spices, salt and saute well. Allow the spices to cook for about 3-4 minutes or until the spices leave the sides of the wok. Add a drizzle of water if required.
6. Next add the mashed eggplant,chopped coriander leaves, cumin powder and mix well. Cook for a minute.
7. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or chapattis or your favourite rotis and yoghurt.

Hope you enjoy this dish as much as my husband and I did! :)

Bon Appetit!

Beef Roast/Beef Dry Fry - Beef Ularthiyadu/Olaythiyadu - Hubby's Special!!

Anup made one of his mom's recipes for Beef Ularthiyadu which translates to Beef roast or Beef dry fry. He made this when Uncle Soman, Aunty Anne, Anu and Rohit visited our home on a weekend a couple of months ago. It was definitely amazing as we pretty much wiped the dish clean :)

I was only the helper this time just to get the spices ground or for the dicing and the clean up after. This is all him and his mum :) My MIL makes the best beef and cutlets by the way. Of course I love my mom's but they both are aces in their own way.

What you need:

• 1 kg Beef, diced into cubes (washed and cleaned in 1/2 tbsp turmeric powder and 2 tbsp vinegar)
• 1 coconut, sliced finely into squares
• 2 onions, finely diced or 1 cup of red onions, chopped (red onions are preferred)
• 1 sprig of curry leaves (washed in vinegar and turmeric and air dried)
• Ginger-garlic (10 cloves of garlic and 2 tbsp of ginger - chopped finely)
• 2 tbsps Coriander powder
• 2 tbsp Chili powder
• 1/2 tbsp Salt
• 1 tbsp Garam Masala
• 1-2 tsps of Pepper powder
• 11/2 tbsp of cooking oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp+ drinking water

The Make

Cooking Time: 1 hour | Preparation Time: 10 minutes | Serves 6-7

1. Drain the cleaned beef in a colander until all the water is completely drained.

2 . Meanwhile, fry the coconut in 1/2 tbsp of the oil till golden brown and add a pinch of turmeric. Set aside.

3. Add 1/2 tbsp of the oil to a wok and splutter the mustard seeds.

4. Add 1 of the diced onions and saute till golden brown. Then add the ginger and garlic and saute for a minute or until the garlic is slightly brown.

5. Make a paste with some water of some of the dry spices (11/2 tbsp of coriander powder, 11/2 tbsp of chili powder, 3/4 tbsp of Garam Masala and  1/2  tbsp of salt).

6. Add the masala paste to the wok and saute until the masala is cooked or leaves the sides of the wok.

7. Cook the raw beef with the prepared coconut, cooked masala and curry leaves in the pressure cooker for at least 45 minutes (5-6 whistles).

Tip: Make sure you have added enough water to cover half the beef content. It does not have to cover the entire beef content as this a dry fry.

8. In the wok, heat the remaining oil and saute the remaining diced onions till golden brown.

9. Next add in the remaining coriander powder, chili powder, garam masala and the pepper powder and cook the masala.

10. Lower heat to low and add in the cooked beef and fry till the residual water gets absorbed.

Serve hot with a flatbread of your choice - Paratha, chappatis or rotis, appam or rice.

Tip: You can subsitute with chicken or soya chunks. Soya chunks actually work really well with this recipe!

Bon Appetit!

Uncle John's Chana Masala Special (Spiced Chick Peas)

I do not know if you remember when I started this blog, I mentioned the name of my blog arrives from the fact that my cooking experience was derived first from Mum's Kitchen and then to several kitchens thereafter. Hence the name Kitchenette. Uncle John and Aunty Felcy's kitchen was one of the kitchens where I learnt some delicious Mangalorean recipes. Uncle John prepares the best chana masala I have ever had!

Recently, when I spoke to Uncle's son, he mentioned how ever many times, he tries to get his Dad's recipe for Chana Masala, it never turns out as delicious as he makes it. Well to cut a long story short, I called uncle and asked him for his recipe and made sure I took notes to the T!

I can safely say that this attempt definitely takes me back to the good ol' days, when I stayed at uncle and aunty's loving home as I definitely got the flavour right minus the love and care that uncle especially puts in it. Lemon juice is an optional ingredient (as I am not sure if his son liked it in the dish). I remember uncle had added it in when I visited his home about a year ago with my little one Izzy and hubby Anup.

So here goes, its a super simple recipe and one you must try whether you are a vegetarian or not. Trust me, you will argue with your better half for the last spoon of this dish or will divide it equally not just give it away. Miss you Uncle and Aunty. Thank you for taking care of me ..you definitely made it hard to miss my parents a lot when I was away from them those years.

To make this super delicious and simple recipe,

You need:

• 250 gms of kabuli chana/Chickpeas, soaked overnight in 2-3 cups of water
• 1 tbsp of MTR Chana Masala powder(if you do not have this you can use 1/2 tbsp of chili powder and 1/2 tbsp of Garam masala, although it will not be perfectly the same, it will serve the purpose)
• 2 cups of water
• 2 tomatoes, finely diced
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 1 tbsp of ginger-garlic paste
• 1 green chili, slit lengthwise (optional)
• 1 bunch of coriander leaves, finely diced
• 1 tbsp of coconut oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 2-3 cloves of garlic (skin-on)
• Juice of 1 lemon (optional)
• Salt to taste

The make:

Preparation Time: 8 hrs(overnight)|Cooking Time: 30 minutes| Serves 4 adults

1. Strain the water from the puffed up chana and pressure cook the chana with salt and about 2 cups of water.
2. Heat the coconut oil in a clay pot and splutter the mustard seeds.
3. Lower the flame and add the garlic cloves until softened or lightly brown.
4. Add the green chili and onion and saute till golden-brown. 
5. Next add the ginger-garlic paste and stir for about a minute.
6. Next add the tomatoes. Cover to cook for about 3-4 minutes.
7. Add the MTR Masala and stir well. Allow to cook for 2 minutes.
8. Next add the chana with the water and saute well. Cover and allow the spices to blend into the chana for 10 minutes. Add the (optional) lemon juice if preferred.
9. Top with coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice or flatbreads such as paratha, puris or roti of your choice. Bon Appetit..

Tip: Once served, leave the cover off the claypot and let it cool. Once cooled to room temperature, cover and let it stand overnight. This improves the flavour. The chana masala taste better the next day as the chana absorbs the masala.

Methi Roti (Wholewheat Indian flatbread with Fenugreek Leaves)

Fenugreek leaves as I have mentioned in my earlier posts has many a medicinal value. Fenugreek was introduced to us by our nutritionist as to avoid Type1 and Type 2 diabetes and thus found its way into my kitchen. Methi or Fenugreek leaves based Chapatis(Unleavened Flatbread) or Rotis(Flatbread made of wholewheat) has been a part of our staple diet.

You need:

Makes: 12 Rotis

• One sprig of Methi (Fenugreek) leaves (washed and drained) finely chopped
• 2 cups of wholewheat flour/'Atta' (additional flour as required for dusting)
• Lukewarm water as required (to make into a dough) - I take about 2 cups
• Salt to taste(1/2 tsp)
• Oil/Ghee(clarified butter) - optional

The make:

Cooking Time: 20 minutes|Preparation Time: 30 minutes| Serves: 4 adults

The dough:
Take the flour and salt in a large vessel to allow for the kneading process. Add a little lukewarm water and knead (keep adding water bit by bit as required) until a dough is formed. Take a wooden board or worktop, dust a tad of flour as required and place the dough over and knead through until a smooth dough is formed (to avoid stickiness).

Fenugreek leaves

Ensure that the leaves are not wet or pat dry before adding it to the dough or else the dough would get sticky. Ideally pat dry before the chopping of the leaves. With a fisted hand, pound the dough in the center and add half the leaves, continue kneading so as to evenly spread the leaves across the dough. Add the remaining leaves and repeat.

Once the dough is ready, leave it to stand for at least 15-30 minutes. This will ensure that the rotis or Chapati turns out soft when serving.

Rolling the dough:
Roll out the dough into small rounds depending on the size of the roti you would like to serve. On a wooden base, dust a little flour. Press the small dough ball flat using your hand. Now using a rolling pin, roll out the flattened dough on one side. Keep a tad bit of flour on one side of the worktop and dab the dough into the flour if required(normally if the dough is found to be slightly stick so as not to stick to the rolling pin or wooden base and cause tearing halfway through the rolling process).

Flip the flat dough on the other side and repeat till the Roti is evenly flat all around and reaches the shape you need. You can make it into the traditional round or a triangular shape as required.

Initially of course you may end up having different shapes of various countries on your board.I have yet to perfect the art of making perfectly round rotis/chapattis. It requires some amount of effort, time and patience. I remember one special aunt (Aunty Vinna), I stayed with for a while required perfectly round chapatis and I found it very cute that she achieved that by placing a clean vessel over the rolled out dough forming a perfect circle. I particularly enjoyed the chapatis she used to make for us :)

Keep your hot plate ready to store your rotis. Heat a skillet and lower to a medium flame, add your first rolled out dough and after 2-3 minutes, flip it to the other side. Check if it is evenly cooked. You can also add oil or ghee as desired. We use neither, so next I move my skillet(which has a guarded handle so as not to burn myself) away from the flame and place the Roti on the flame using my spatula and move the spatula away, you will find that the Roti puffs up. I toss the Roti back onto the skillet (still not on the flame), and repeat for the other side. The roti then goes into the hot plate.

Methi Roti

Serve your Rotis with Yoghurt/Curd or your specially prepared dish. Kids also enjoy this with jam or cheese and other spreads. In my case, it was Rajma Masala! Enjoy! Bon Appetit..