A Snow Day in Feb..

The European capital hit by snow ........ in February. 


London has woken up to a blanket of snow after the big freeze

On Saturday night, standing at my window, I did not at once recognise what that white stuff was gathering all over the trees and houses...

That’s what snow looks like.

It looks like the world’s being frosted.

A white House in UK

Below is a colour photo in black & white

All the roads, kerbs and cars are covered with the white stuff

The only thing which we can make use of this white stuff is .......

Making a snowman......

Potato curry for poori

This curry is prepared by cooking the potato and green pea in gram flour sauce. This can be served with either poori, chapathi or even dosa.

Ingredients:

Onion – 1 (Cut length wise)
Tomato – 1

Potato – 2 medium, boiled and mashed

Fresh or frozen Green pea – boiled 1 cup
Gram flour (Basin / Senagapindi) – ¼  cup
Water – 2 cups
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Green chili – 2 chopped into small pieces (You can also use Chili paste)
Curry leaves

Oil – 3 tbsps
Salt

Method:

Mix basin + salt with water and whisk it well with out any lumps and keep it aside.

Heat a tawa with oil and when the oil is warm enough, add mustard, cumin, curry leaves one after the other and when they start splattering, add green chilli, onion, tomato and fry for 2 min or until the onion becomes transparent.

Now add chopped tomatoes and stir again and cover it with lid for 2 minutes. Stir again and mash the tomatoes.

Now add the basin mixture and stir continuously by reducing the flame.

Slowly the content becomes thick and leaves a nice aroma. Now add the mashed potato and green pea.

Reduce the flame and allow the vegetables to absorb the flavours, for about 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat. Though it looks bit watery when it is just done, it will become thick once it is cool.

Poori with potato curry

Note: Do not cover the pan with lid whilst cooking any basin recipes as the basin will get split and gets separated from water. This will make the curry watery

Beet leaves curry

A healthy side dish packed with healthy nutrients. Very few people consider eating  the green leafy tops of beet. Beet leaves have been found to contain large amounts of vitamin K, that aids in blood clotting. It also boosts immune system against infections and cancer. When the beet leaves are cooked, they will ooze the pink beet colour. Other than this, they tastes more or less like spinach. 

Ingredients:

Washed & Chopped beet leaves – 1 large bunches
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
Onion – 1 chopped into small pieces
Green chilli paste – 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard + cumin - 1 tsp

Fresh Beet leaves along with Beet roots

Method:

Heat a deep pan with 1 tbsp of oil. When it is hot enough, add cumin + mustard seeds.

When they start splattering, add ginger garlic paste and green chilli paste, sauté for a while and then add chopped onion.

Fry the onions until they become transparent.

Add the beet leaves and stir for a minute, sprinkle some salt and cover the lid. Cook the leaves until soft and not over cooked.

Beet leaves served with rice

Dhokla

Dhokla or Dhokra is a vegetarian food item that originates from Gujarat state in India. It is made with a fermented batter made up of with chana daal and rice. Dhokla can be eaten as a breakfast or as a side dish or even as a snack.

This is pretty much similar to the south Indian tiffin variety Idly. To make dhokla Rice and chanadaal are used, in the ratio 2:1 and soaked for 5-6 hours. The mixture is ground and this paste is fermented over night. The fermented batter is then steamed for about 15 minutes on a flat dish and cut into pieces. These chopped pieces are seasoned with mustard seeds, corinader leaves and fresh coconut. For the typical Gujarati style, an equal amount of water and a little sugar is added to the seasoning. As I want it spicy, I have avoided adding sugar.

Dhokla with Mint chutney

Ingredients:

Chana daal / Bengal gram - 1 cup

Rice - 2 cups

Turmeric - pinch

Salt

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

For seasoning -

Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard - 1/2 tsp

Urad daal / Black gram - 1 tsp

Chopped corainder - 1 tbsp

Grated fresh coconut - 1tbsp

Method:

Wash and soak the chana daal and rice for about 5-6 hours. Grind them into a smooth paste in a blender. Consistency should be like beaten yoghurt or like idly batter. Ferment it for about 6-8 hours or over night.

To the fermented batter add salt, baking soda and turmeric. Mix it thoroughly. In the mean time, boil the water in a idly / dokla steamer.

If you dont have one then, take a wide bottomed pan and add water till about 1 inch depth. Now place a metal stand or any wide bowl.

Now greese a cake tin or pressure cooker tin and pour the batter into the tin.

Slowly place the tin into the wide bottomed vessel on top of the metal stand or plate and cover it with lid.

Steam the batter for 15 minutes on medium high flame.

Steamed dhokla

Turn off the heat and prepare the seasoning. Heat a small pan with 1 tbsp of oil. Add mustard and urad daal to it. When the urad daal changes the colour, add 1 tbsp of water to it and immediately pour over the steamed dhokla.

Now cut them into small pieces and garnish with coriander and grated coconut.

Serve it with any chutney of your choice. Mint chutney is the best option. 

Vankaya nanchudu koora / Brinjal Curry

This is another version of stuffed brinjal (dry variety) with mild spices that are roasted and coarsely grounded. The aroma emanated from my kitchen during it preparation warms every ones appetite. I have chosen the tender brinjals that are simmered in tamarind juice and flavoured with the spicy powder.

Ingredients:

Brinjals / Egg plants (Purple variety) – 5

Urad daal (black) – 1 tbsp

Chana daal / Senagapappu – 1 1/2 tbsp

Fenugreek seeds – 1/2  tsp

Cumin – 1/2 tsp

Coriander seeds - 1 tsp

Peanuts – 1 tbsp

Till / Sesame seeds – 1 tsp

Scraped coconut – 1  tbsp

Dry Red chilli – 4-5

Tamarind juice extracted from half a lemon size of it

Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt as per taste

Method:

Dry roast all the ingredients one after the other except the egg plants and tamarind.

Allow them to cool down and grind them in a blender into fine powder by adding enough salt.

Tender brinjals, tamarind juice and the spicy powder

Remove the stalks for the egg plants and slit each egg plant twice still keeping the base in contact. Fill each egg plant with the spicy powder and keep them ready. Now heat a broad pan with 2 -3 tbsp of oil. Slowly slip the stuffed egg plants into it.

Once in a while give a good toss, so that the egg plants will get cooked from all sides. When they are half done add tamarind juice and cover it with the lid for 4-5 minutes or until they are fully cooked. Remove the lid and sprinkle all the remaining spicy powder and toss it again and remove from the fire.

Rice with stuffed brinjal

Kobbari lauju / Coconut fudge

This is an Indian variety of coconut fudge. Unlike the other sweets where you need some expertise to make the sugar syrup, this recipe need not require any experience. Instead of using sugar, I have used jaggery which will give a nice caramel taste and colour. Also, instead of making the sweet in squares, I shaped them in laddu form.

Ingredients:

Fresh grated coconut - 4 cups
Jaggery - 3 cups
Cardamom powder - 2 pinches
Ghee – 1 tbsp to mould the coconut mixture.

Jaggery and grated coconut

Method:

Take a large pan with wide bottom. Add 3/4th cup of water and melt the jaggery. Keep the heat on medium-low allowing the jaggery to melt completely.

Add the grated coconut and cardamom powder to the jaggery syrup.

Keep the heat on medium and cook, stirring frequently to prevent the mixture from sticking to the pan. In about 30 minutes, the mixture will be reduced, becomes very thick and comes away easily from the sides of pan - this is the signal to turnoff the heat.

When the coconut mixture is warm enough, then smear your hands with ghee and make the laddus. Or you can spread it on a greased tray and cut into squares.

I found an empty chocolate box and I filled it with these coconut laddus.

Kobbari Podi - 2

This is another version of spicy coconut powder. Adding daal to the coconut will give the mouthful taste. Instead of stir fries, we can have this spicy powder as a side dish.

Spicy coconut powder

Ingredients:

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup

Toor daal / Kandi pappu - 1 tbsp

Coriander seeds - 1 tsp

Dry red chili - 5-6

Garlic cloves - 2-3

Salt

Oil - 1 tsp

Red chili, dry coconut, toor daal, coriander seeds and garlic

Heat a tsp of oil in a heavy bottomed vessel and roast the daal on low heat till light brown and the daal releases its flavor. Remove and cool.

In the same vessel and dry red chillis and the coriander seeds and fry them till they change their colour. Remove and keep them aside. 

To the same pan add the grated or sliced coconut pieces and roast on low heat for 3-4 minutes. Dont add any more oil to roast the coconut pieces.

Once the daals, red chillis and coconut pieces are cool, place them along with garlic cloves and salt in a blender and grind to make a powder of a crumbly consistency.

Store in an air tight container.