Date and tamarind Chutney-
This chutney has been basic to Indian starters ever since . It has a perfect blend of sweet and sourness carrying its own unique character.
Tamarind paste 1/2 cup / Dates deseeded1/2 cup / Water 2 cups /3/4 cup jaggery/ 1/4 cup Sugar
Mix all the ingredients in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil. Simmer .
Red chili powder 1/2 tsp/Cumin powder 1/2 tsp/Ginger powder 1/2 tsp/Black salt 1 tsp/ red chili powder 1 tsp
Add all the spices and simmer till a glaze appear.
Dal makhni-
Dal makhni or we can say Maa ki dal in Punjab where it originated. This is considered to be the most famous dal of Indian cuisine altogether . It was originally prepared with Black urad dal whole in measured combination of chana dal(split gram dal) and rajmaed (kidney beans). And then Restaurant Bukhara of Hotel Maurya Shereton New Delhi popularised it with only black urad dal and hence called Dal Bukhara. The following recipe is dal Bukhara or the advanced version of dal makhni which is being folllowed in all five star restaurants in India.
Black Urad dal 1kg / Tomato paste 450 gm/ Unsalted white butter 500 gm/ cream 500 ml
Ginger garlic paste 50 gm/ red chili paste 50 gm/salt 20 gm/ Kasoori methi powder 20 gm / garam masala powder 5 gm/ green chilies 6 no
Dal urad is in fact very dusty and hence need be washed thoroughly . For this we add 1 tbs of turmeric and mix it with dal and keep washing it in warm water till the colour is gone , generally it takes 10 times. Now we have to soak it for 2 hours . in hotels we put dal on tandoor for over nihgt to cook it nicely on slow flame but in home we can pressure cook or can cook on slow fire for 1-1/2 hours till it start splitting. Now in the boiling split dal, add tomato paste, ginger garlic paste, red chili paste, salt and green chilies and keep stirring it . Water must be there a little extra so as to incorporate the ingredients and extra cooking time . Slowly it will start taking orang- brown colour and the dal would start getting mashed. Add butter and cream and cook further till dal is completely mashed and a creamy appearance is seen. Lentils must not be predominantly visible .Discard the green chilies now and Sprinkle spice powders . Serve hot with warm butter naan or Laccha paratha.
Gajar ka halwa (Indian Carrot pudding)
Gajar ka halwa has been very popular north Indian dessert and its taste lies in the sweetness of winter carrots and the taste lies in the richness of milk it’s prepared with. The carrots are stewed in milk and desi ghee (clarified butter) and finished with nuts and cardamom powder.
Carrot 1 kg / Milk 500 ml/ sugar 250 gm/ Ghee 250 gm/ green cardamom powder 1 tbs/ salt 1/4 tsp
Peel, wash and grate the carrots.
Heat the shallow sauce pan . Add desighee (clarified butter) and caroot together. Saute till it start loosing fat .Meanwhile boil the milk . Add boiled milk to the carrots now . Simmer the mixture and cook till the carrots are cooked and milk is evaporated. Sprinkle cardamom powder and little salt as well to enhance the taste of the dish. Rose water can also be added but its completely optional. While serving nuts can be arranged on top for garnish.
Aloo paratha
Aloo paratha is a very popular breakfast dish in north India. Its a stuffed flat bread , cooked on a griddle with clarified butter . hence, a heavy bread in itself and good enough to satiate the hunger for long . The popular accompaniments are spicy mint chutney , mango pickle and cumin spiced raita .
wheat flour 100 gm / Salt 2 gm/ oil 10 ml/ water 45 ml
Sieve flour in a deep bowl with salt. Add 5 ml oil and half of the water and start mixing with your fingers.Mix till it becomes crumbly and semi dry. All the dryness of flour should have gone but not wet as well.
Add remaining water and start kneading with fist and palm. The Dough has just become soft . so leave it covered with a clean damp cloth. Leave itfor 15 miute. This is called prooving stage. Meanwhile prepare the stuffing of paratha.
Potato boiled 60 gm / ginger 3 gm/ g chilies 2 gm/ salt2 gm/ cumin powder 2 gm/ red chili powder 1 gm/ dry mango powder 2 gm/ fresh coriander 5 gm/ Ghee 50 gm
Grate the potato and mix all the ingredients . Mix properly and keep aside. Now take the dough and knead properly and smooth-en it .Apply oil and Divide in 3 balls . Flat this and stuff with potato balls and roll again . Flatten the ball with a rolling pin and make sure the sides are not thick but evenly spread . Heat griddle and place the flat dough on it . Let it dry from one side, change now and let it dry from this side .There must be little brown specks on both sides by now, apply ghee on one side and turn back .. pansear gently, pressing all over with a cloth . turn back ,and pansear this side also with little ghee while pressing with a cloth .Remove and cover with a dry cloth or absorbent paper.
Plain Boiled rice/ steamed rice–
This is a regular accompaniments which travels to almost each table in Indian cuisine restaurant as you wont feel done without smearing your tongue with curry glazed rice.And this is so common yet not so easy to make, surprisingly. Many a times we find it hard to get a properly steamed rice in restaurants also. Well, the difference lies in a few tips to be followed.
basmati rice 500 gm/ Water 2 litres /Salt 5 gm/ oil a few drops/ Cinnamon 1 stick/ bay leaf 1 no
Wash thrice and soak rice in warm water for 30 minutes. This will help grain swell and absorb the water.
Meanwhile bring a boil to plain water and add all other ingredients. Strain the soaked rice and add to the boiling water.
Rice must be boiled on a continuous high flame . it must not be stirred very often but the spoon or palta must remain in pot.Once the rice satrt dancing on the top , the care must be taken to be ready with colander, cloth and a lid . (and perforated strainer if a big quantity is being cooked)
Rice will start spreading on the top and we have to check whether the rice is 90% done or not. Once its ready up till this done ness, strain in a colander and cover with a lid . Make sure the colander is not touching the tray underlying without any stand beneath this. it will help proper air circulation. Now while this rice is covered ,the steam generated will cook the remaining 10% and thus a separate granular rice is prepared. Remove the lid after 5 minutes and use a spoon to spred the rice in a tray .The rice must be separate and shining but soft . leave there for 15 minutes .. it will obtain firmness. Store chilled .
This is arguably one of the most exotic chat of India and not easily available everywhere. Baby spinach leaves are crisp fried with gram flour batter then smeared with tantalizing tamarind chutney and sweet yogurt .
Baby spinach leaves 100 gm / gram flour 20 gm / red chili powder2 gm/ turmeric powder 3 gm/ salt 3 gm/ water
Pluck the stalks of leaves and wash and strain. Make a thick batter of gram flour and spices. Dip spinach leaves in the batter and deep fry till crisp.
Tamarind date chutney 10 ml/ sweet yogurt 40 ml/ chopped onion and tomato 20 gm/ chopped coriander 10 gm/ chat masala a pinch
Seedless tamarind and dates are simmered in water with spices and sugar to make chutney .Plain greek yoghur is added with sugar to make sweet yoghurt. Now arrange the spinach leaves in a shallow bowl , spreading in two layers . Pipe the yoghurt in between the two layers of spinach . Now top it up with tamarind chutney ,chopped vegetables and chat masala.
Tandoori Lehsooni jheenga
Tandoori prawns is a delicacy which is best enjoyed with larger prawns . We normally marinate the meat with I marination, allowing meat to absorb the seasoning and then apply the second marination to enhance the taste.
I mariantion
Prawn -8/10 size 3 no/ Ginger garlic paste 5 gm/salt 2 gm/yellow chilli powder 2 gm/Turmeric powder 2 gm/ green chili paste 3 gm/Lemon juice 5 ml/ oil 5 ml/ Ajwain (carom ) seeds 1 tsp
Peel, de vein and wash the prawns and pat dry . Apply all the above ingredients on the prawns and keep aside for 30 minutes. This will make the meat of prawn juicier and seasoned.
II marination
Hung yogurt 20 gm, ginger garlic paste 5 gm/salt 2 gm/yellow chilli powder 2 gm/Turmeric powder 2 gm/ green chili paste 3 gm/Lemon juice 5 ml/ oil 10 ml/ brown garlic paste 10gm /Cumin powder 5 gm / Garam masala powder 3 gm /Cream 20 ml/ butter 20 ml/ chat masala 2 gm
The curd must be hung in a fine sieve cloth or strainer overnight.This will make the marination stick to the prawns. Deep fry the chopped garlic and make a paste in mixer.Heat the 5 ml of oil and add turmeric powder. and add 10 ml of water after 1 minute , to cool off. This help in making the colour bright of turmeric.
Now squeeze the prawns from the I marinade and mix all the above ingredients together.Sprinkle some oil on top and keep aside covered for 2 hours.
Now skewer the prawns and put in a preheated tandoor at 200 oC. In 5-8 minutes , prawns will be almost tender. Take it out and hang nearby. Apply butter and put the skewer at 250 oC hot tandoor , keep till black specs on it. remove and serve hot . Before serving , sprinkle cream, butter and tandoori chat masala.
Prawn bezule
This is a well known recipe from Malaabr region where prawns are crisp fried in cornflour and red chili batter.And further to this it is tossed in basic spices like mustard and ginger.
prawns–26/30 size 10 no/ ginger juliennes 5 gm/ curry leaf a few/musatrd seeds 2 gm/lemon juice 1 tsp/ chat masala a pich
corn flour 100 gm /ginger garlic paste 10 gm/ red chili paste 20 gm/ lemon juice 20 ml/ salt 5 gm/egg 1 no
MIx the corn flour and other spices to make a bezule batter .This will become quite a stiff batter due to cornflour. take 1 tbsp of batter in a bowl and dilute with sprinkling of water. Mix the prawns in this batter and deep fry in hot oil. Fry till crisp.
heat oil in a skillet and crackle mustard seeds and curry leaves.Add fried prawns and toss with lemon juice and chat masala. serve in a dish.
Sabz sunehri shami tikki
Indian cuisine has lots of variety in terms of starters and snacks and tikki or shami kebab is a very popular starter. The Shami tikki is a panseared cake of minced vegetables , served with relish or chutney. Here the golden baby corns and green peas are mashed with spices and pan seared.
Diced babycorns 100 gm /Green peas 50 gm/Boiled Potatoes 150 gm/ turmeric a pinch/ salt 5 gm
Boil babycorn in turmeric salted water , add green peas and drain. Squeeze the moisture properly .
Oil 50 ml/1 tblspoon cumin seeds/ garlic 5 gm/Onion slices 20 gm /ginger chopped 5 gm/ g chillies 3 gm/Turmeric powder 1 tsp/red chili powder 1/4 tsp/ coriander powder 1 tsp/ cumin powder 1 tsp/Salt to taste/Black Pepper 3 gm//Amchur 1/2 tsp/ 20 gm Corn Flour/ Coriander chopped 20gm/ whole cashew 2 no.
Heat oil, crackle cumin seeds and add garlic to brown. Add onion , saute till light brown , add ginger ,green chili and then Powdered spices with little water. Add squeezed vegetables, and saute till it starts sticking to the pan. remove from the pan and cool. Grind the mixture in mincer with boiled potato.
Mix the corn flour and fresh chopped coriander and make round cakes with the mixture. place half cashew piece on each cake as garnish. Heat oil on a skillet and pan sear the cake both sides on slow flame
Shahi Paneer
This dish again is one of the favourits of Indian party menus. As the name suggests , it is the crown of Indian vegetarian menu simply because of the richness and the delicate taste it has got. I would like to mention here that this dish is generally prepared in white colour but still some places it is liked in yellow colour as in Lucknow region . In fact both ways , its right though authenticity lies in the white colour .
Paneer cubes 50 gm / White gravy 100 gm/ cream 10 ml/cardamom powder 1 tsp
heat the white gravy , add paneer cubes and simmer , add cream and cardamom powder. serve hot with cream garnish.
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White gravy-
Onion250 gm/ cashew 100 gm /200 ml water
simmer cashewnuts in boiling water for 5 minutes and drain. It washes away the impurities . Mix it with onion chunks and water and simmer till the onions are soft. Drain and purée it.
Oil100 ml/green cardamom, bay leaf 2 no each/ green chilies 2 no/ ginger garlic paste 30 gm/
yoghurt200 ml/ cream 50 ml/ white pepper powder 1 tsp/green cardamom powder 1 tsp.
Heat oil, crackle whole garam masala and slit chilies. Add ginger garlic paste. Saute well till it start s browning .
Pour beaten yogurt with some water and put on slow flame till it starts boiling. Care should be taken at this stage for temperature . If raised , it may result in curdled yoghurt. We may add 20 ml of cream also while beating yoghurt. It helps in stabilization.
Once it boils, add cashew onion paste and stir it on simmering heat till oil appears on the surface .Finish with white pepper powder and green cardamom powder .
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Shahi paneer in yellow gravy
Paneer cubes 50 gm / White gravy 100 gm/ ooil 20 ml/ turmeric powder 1 tsp/ red chili powder 1/4 tsp/ coriander powder 1 tsp/garma masala powder 1/4 tsp/tomato paste 1 tsp/cream 10 ml/cardamom powder 1 tsp
Heat Oil, add powdered spices , dissolved in water , add tomato paste. Cook on slow flame till the oil leaves the sides. Add white gravy , add paneer cubes and simmer , add cream and cardamom powder. serve hot with cream garnish.
Indian Zaiqa 