Tameta muthiya shaak~tomato dumplings curry

Tameta muthiya shaak is typical gujarati delicacy. Though it requires elaborate preparation, it is still worth to try. It is one of my favourite gujarati curry because it has typical sweet sour gujarati taste.

Ingredients:-

For muthiya(dumplings)

1 cup fenugreek leaves(methi)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup chickpea flour

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tbsp oil

green chilli ginger paste (as per taste)

salt (as per taste)

For curry

4-5 tomatoes (chopped in cubes)

1 tsp turmeric powder

1-2 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp garam masala

1-2 tsp coriander powder

1-2 tsp sugar (optional)

1 tsp amchur (optional)

1 tsp mustard seeds

2-3 tsp oil

4-5 curry leaves

salt

For muthiya

Wash and clean the fenugreek leaves and chopped finely. Mix all the ingredients for muthiya and knead the dough using water as required. Divide the dough into approximately 4-5 parts and roll by your hands in cylindrical shape. If dough is sticky, apply oil on your palms.

Put rolls in steaming plate. Steam muthiya for 15-20 min on medium high flame in steamer. Then slice each roll into small oval shape pieces and keep them aside.

For curry

Heat oil in one pan. When oil is heated add mustard seeds. When they start spluttering, add curry leaves and pinch of asafoetida. Add chopped tomatoes, all the spices, amchur powder,sugar and salt. Mix all of them well. Let tomatoes cook for 4-5 minutes. When tomatoes are almost done, add 1 to 2 cup water as per consistency needed. Let the water start boiling, then at last add muthiyas. Simmer for 5-7 minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander.

Serve hot with chapati or paratha.

Notes:-

This curry has normally gravy like consistency.

You can add any other green leaves for muthiya like spinach,cale etc.

Beetroot kofta curry

I don't like beet much. I just use it in salad sometimes, otherwise I don't have any idea of where to use this so nutritious vegetable in my diet. I saw this recipe online somewhere a while ago. I wanted to try that recipe as soon as possible, but I was hesitant. At last after gathering courage to try, I bought beetroot before few days. But believe me, the result was awesome. So, here you go.......

Ingredients

For Kofta

1-1/2 beet (parboiled)

2 carrots

1 tbspn gram flour/besan

1 medium/2 small potatoes (boiled and mashed)

1 tsp garam masala

3-4 green chilly (chopped finely)

2 garlic cloves (minced)

oil 

salt

For gravy

3-4 tomatoes

2 onion

1 tbsp ginger-green chilly paste

2 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp red chilly powder

1 tsp coriander cumin seed powder

2 tsp oil

2 tbsp fresh cream

chopped cilantro for garnishing

salt

For Kofta

Grate the parboiled beetroot and carrot. Mix all the ingredients of kofta well except oil and salt. Heat the flat griddle or tava. When you are ready to cook the kofta, then only add the salt. Take spoonful of kofta mixture in your palm and make rounds. Then slightly flatten them by your palm. Apply some oil on the tava and put all the koftas one by one on it. When one side is golden brown, then flip them and again use some oil.

For Gravy

Grind onion and tomato to smooth paste. Take one saucepan and heat oil in it. When oil is heated, add ginger chilly paste. Then add onion-tomato paste. Cook till oil separates from the gravy. Add all the dry powders, salt and cream. Add water as per the needed consistency. Simmer for 5-8 minutes. 

For serving, put koftas in a bowl and pour the gravy on it. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy!!!

Notes:-

To get more crunchy and crispy taste, you can deep fry the koftas also.

If there is too much water in the kofta mixture, then you can add more gram flour/besan.

Make sure that you add kofta in the gravy before serving only, because these koftas are really fragile.

And last but not the least, First time I got some awards....ta da da!!! Thank you very much Chandani for passing me these awards. They are posted on the sidebar.

This Friends award states that-These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement(? big word, lol). Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

I would like to pass this beautiful award to mansi, purva,  sunshinemom, poornima, deesha, madhavi, nags and DK.

Green Bataki (green potato curry)

During cold winter days, hot potato curry sounds a great idea! Though this recipe requires small baby potatoes, I wanted to have this curry so desperately that I made it with regular potatoes. If you look at other posts of my blog, you will think that now a days I am in love with green color...well this is my one more way to eat spinach.

Ingredients

To be grounded into green paste

1 bunch of spinach

2 small onion

1 roma tomato

1 small piece of ginger

2 cloves of garlic

4-5 green chillies

1 small bay leaf

2 whole black paper

To be grounded into white paste

2 tbsp magastari na bee (optional)

1 tsp fennel seeds(optional)

8-10 almonds

For Curry

5-6 baby potatoes

2-3 tbsp oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp red chili powder

1 tsp garam masala

3 tbsp whole milk

pinch of asafoetida

pinch of fruit soda/eno

salt as per taste

Cut the spinach roughly and wash under running water for couple of times. You can use frozen spinach also and thaw it in microwave. Cut onion and tomato roughly. Make smooth paste of all the ingredients mention above for green paste in mixer.

Soak almonds, fennel seeds, magastari na bee in water for half an hour. Make smooth white paste in grinder.

Peel and wash the potatoes. I used regular potatoes, so I cut them in big pieces. Poke them with fork.

Take one medium pot and put it on medium flame on stove with oil. When oil is heated, add cumin seeds. When they start spluttering, add pinch of asafoetida. Add potatoes,salt and cover the pot with lid. Let the potatoes cook till they are fork tender. When potatoes are cooked, add white paste. Let it cook till oil separates. Add garama masala, red chili powder and mix well. Now add green paste and immediately add eno or fruit soda to keep the color green. If needed, add water to get gravy like consistency. Simmer the curry on slow flame for 10 minutes.

I did not want to use cream, so I added whole milk at the end. Milk gave the curry rich texture. After adding milk, again simmer the curry for 5-10 minutes.

Serve the hot green bataki with phulka roti or jeera rice.

Capsicum/Belle Pepper Curry

I always love stuffed belle peppers....but somehow I find it inconvenient for eating. So here is another type of recipe which tastes similar but doesn't require stuffing. This is my mom's recipe, G and I both, just love it.

Ingredients

2 green belle pepper

2 tbsp roasted peanuts

1/3 cup besan (chickpea flour)

1 tbsp coriander cumin seed powder

1/2 tbsp red chili powder

1/2 tbsp aamchur powder

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp turmeric powder

4 tbsp oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tbsp chopped cilantro

Pinch of asafoetida

salt as per taste

Roast the peanuts and remove the skin. Grind peanuts in coarse powder. Make sure you grind the peanuts in coarse powder, not in smooth powder.

Roast the besan on slow flame, till it gives nice aroma and properly cooked.

Cut the belle peppers in small around 1 inch cube pieces. Take one pan with oil and put it on medium flame on stove. You require little bit more oil in this curry because later we will add peanuts and besan which soaks all the oil. Add cumin seeds. When they start spluttering add pinch of asafoetida. Add diced belle peppers along with turmeric powder and let them cook till they are soft. Add some water as per required.

Take one bowl with roasted besan. Add peanuts powder,all spices, sugar,salt and aamchur powder. Mix them well by your hand. Make sure there is not any lump in the mixture.

When belle pepper are almost cooked, add besan mixture with some water. Do not add too much water. Water should be enough to keep the curry moist. Mix everything well and at last add lemon juice.

Add chopped cilantro and serve hot with chapati/paratha/roti.

Spicy Green Chhole (Chickpea Curry)

Green Chhole?! It sounds something different, when I heard this recipe name. I got this recipe from one of my friend and I wanted tor try it from very long time. This weekend I got the chance to experiment with this recipe. Luckily, experiment was successful. This recipe require green chili for the green color and spice, you can reduce or increase green chillis as per your taste.

Ingredients

2 can chhole(chickpea/garbanzo beans)

else

1 cup dry chhole

1 medium onion (finely chopped)

1 tomato (finely chopped)

1 potato (boiled) (optional)

1 tsp roasted cumin seed powder

1 tsp coriander cumin seed powder

1 tsp red chili powder

1 tbsp chhole masala (easily available in indian store)

1 to 2 tbsp sour cream (optional)

4 tbsp oil

1 tbsp butter or ghee

1 tsp cumin seeds

salt as per taste

For green paste

10 green chili

7-8 garlic cloves

1-2 piece of ginger

1 big bunch of coriander/cilantro

3-4 cloves

1 piece of cinnamon

If you are using dry chhole, wash and soak them overnight. Pressure cook them until they are thoroughly cooked. I used the can.

Take all the ingredients of green paste in grinder and make smooth paste with little water or without water.

Take one saucepan and put it on medium flame on stove. Add oil and butter/ghee along with cumin seeds. When they start spluttering, add chopped onion. Saute the onion, till oil separates.

Then add green paste and cook paste also till oil separates. Add garbanzo beans and mix them well in the green paste. Add all the spices, sour cream, salt and water. Add the water as required. Cut the boiled potato in big cubes and add in the curry along with chopped tomato.

Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Serve spicy green chhole with roti or jeera rice.

Note

To get the dark green color, you can add pinch of soda or eno. Add the soda as soon as you add the green paste.

Methi bhaji nu shak (fenugreek leaves curry)

Fenugreek leaves (methi ni bhaji) and fenugreek seeds are two different things. You can make different variety of dishes from leaves like : curry,thepalas(parathas), muthiya(steamed dumpling), gota(fried dumplings) etc. The leaves has pleasant bitter edge, once you get used to with the taste. This is my mom's recipe and I love this curry. It has besan(chickpea flour), to reduce the bitter taste of leaves. You can easily grow this in your garden, just by planting seeds.

Ingredients

2 cups fenugreek leaves(finely chopped)

1/4 cup coriander/cilantro (finely chopped)

1/4 cup besan (chickpea flour)

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

2-3 cloves garlic (minced)

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp red chili powder

1 tsp coriander powder

pinch of asafoetida

4 tsp oil

salt as per taste

Take one pan with besan and put it on gas stove with slow flame. Dry roast the besan, till it gives nice aroma of roasting. Take it out in one dish and let it cool. Wash fenugreek leaves with water.

Put the same pan again on stove and add oil for tempering. Add mustard seeds. When they start spluttering, add asafoetida and minced garlic. Immediately add fenugreek leaves. Add 1/4 cup of water and all the spices. Mix everything well and let it cook for 5-6 minutes. When it is almost cook add cilantro,chick pea flour and little bit of water. Mix everything well again and cook for 4-5 minutes. This is dry curry,so do not add too much water.

Serve it hot with chapati.

Dal Makhani

It is not possible that you don't find Dal Makhani in menu of any Indian restaurant serving Punjabi food!!! It is one of the great winning recipes on the table again and again. I always wanted to make same restaurant style at home. Finally tried it at home and get my kind of dal makhani recipe version. The main key ingredient in this dal is cream, which gives it creamy texture. But if you want to cut down calorie, you can just simply avoid it or instead add some curd(without water) or combination of both. In most of the dal makhani recipe which I found, cream was lot more required. But being on health n taste, I just add little bit of cream. Traditionally this dal is cooked for hours on slow flame, so I cooked it for around 45 minutes to 1 hr for my kind of version. (I don't have that much patience!)

Ingredients

one and half cup sabut udad(whole horse gram)

2 tsp rajma (kidney beans)

1 medium onion (chopped)

1-2 tomatoes (chopped)

1/4 cup tomato sauce or puree

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup dahi (curd)(without water)

To be gound into paste

6-8 garlic cloves

4-6 green chili

1 piece of ginger

For tadka (tempering)

4 tsp ghee or butter

2-3 curry leaves

1-2 tejpatta (Bay leaf)

3/4 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)

Spices

1 /2 to 1tsp red chili powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

pinch of hing (asafoetida)

salt as per taste

Wash both lentils couple of time and Soak them in water for 6-8 hours. Add salt and Pressure cook both of them together for 3-4 whistles. Let the cooker cool. Remove the excess water and collect the excess water in one bowl.

Take one pot and put it on medium flame on gas. Put ghee in it and once it is heated, add cumin seeds. When they start spluttering add curry leaves, tejpatta and hing. Add finely chopped onion and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add grounded paste of ginger, garlic and chili. Finally add chopped tomatoes. Mix all them well and saute the mixture till fat starts to leave the mixture.

Now add the boiled lentils and then add all the spices. Add tomato puree or sauce. Add the salt as per requirement. Now add the collected water as per required consistency and simmer the dal on slow flame for 10-15 minutes.

Finally add the curd and cream, Simmer the dal for 30 to 45 minutes on very slow flame.

Garnish it with ginger juliennes and cream, serve hot with roti or jeera rice.

Dudhi chana nu shaak(bengal gram and bottle gourd curry)

During these diwali festival days, after eating lot of sweets and fried items, yesterday I want to to eat something simple yet nutritious. I found bottle gourd(dudhi/lauki) in my refrigerator. I am not big fan of bottle gourd, but I like this curry because of bengal gram. This curry tastes good with chapati(indian flat bread) as well as rice. (I don't have to make dal!!!). This is one of the best curry for diabetic person because of the lower glycemic index of bengal gram.

1 cup bengal gram(split chana dal)

1/2 cut cup bottle gourd

1 tsp jaggery(gud) or sugar (optional)

1 tsp amchur powder or lemon juice

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 dry red chili

1 tsp dry red chili powder

1 tsp corriander powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

2-3 tsp of oil

pinch of asafoetida

salt as per taste

Soak the bengal gram dal for 4-5 hours. Cut the bottle gourd into small cubic pieces. Pressure cook bottle gourd and bengal gram together with water for 4 whistles. Bengal gram dal should be cooked nicely. (you should be able to break it with your fingers)

Take one sauce pan and put 2-3 tsp of oil in it. Keep the sauce pan on gas on medium flame. Add mustard seeds. Once mustard seeds starts spluttering, add cumin seeds. Then add cumin seeds, asafoetida and dry red chili.

Add turmerid powder and immediately add boiled bottle gourd and bengal gram (I always add turmeric powder immediately after tempering for better color). Now take 1/4 cup water in one bowl and add all dry spice in it. Mix spices well in the water and pour the water in curry.

Add jaggery or sugar (optional). At last add aamchur powder or lemon juice, along with salt.

Simmer it low flame for 20- 25 minutes. Make sure the curry has consistency like gravy, so if needed add extra water inbetween.

Garnish it with cilantro and serve hot with chapati or rice.