MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja - Daal Wange (Daal Baingan/ Brinjal Daal)

Daal Wange (Daal Baingan/ Brinjal Daal)

Daal Wange is my maternal Grandma’s recipe and it has a special taste. My Grandma (Ajji) made this delectable recipe and I am reminded of her whenever I make it. The recipe is of brinjal cooked with daal. My grandmother used more of homemade garam masala in her recipes and this gave unique tatse to her preparations. Daal Wange tastes good with parathas as well as rice.

Ingredients

Arhar (Tur or Tuvar) Daal - 1½ cup

Brinjals- 2 nos medium sized

Onions - 2 nos medium sized

Cumin Powder - ½ teaspoon

Turmeric powder - ½ teaspoon

Aasafoetida - A pinch

Dried red chillies - 3 nos

Corinader seeds - ¼ teaspoon

Mustard seeds - ½ teaspoon

Garlic - 10- 12 cloves

Dry coconut - 1 inch piece

Curry leaves - 10-12 nos

Garam Masala - 1 teaspoon

Water - Approx 1½ litre or slightly more

Oil - 2 tablespoons

Salt - As per taste

Fresh coriander - 3-4 sprigs

Method

Wash the daal and cook in a pressure cooker along with 750 ml water, turmeric powder, cumin powder, asafetida and salt. Cook for about 15 minutes and remove from fire and set aside. Wash and slice brinjals lengthwise and keep in water so that it does turn brown. Peel and slice onions. Wash and chop coriander leaves. Pound the garlic and dry coconut together coarsely and set aside. Take a pan and heat oil in it. Add mustard seeds, coriander seeds, dried red chillies and curry leaves. Let all splutter, then add onions and stir fry for about 4-5 minutes. Add brinjal pieces and stir fry for another 2 minutes. Now add garam masala and about 2 cups water and allow the brinjals to cook. Cover with a lid if required. Once the brinjals soften, add the cooked daal, pounded garlic and dry coconut and cook for further 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from fire and add chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot and add pure ghee on top if you like. 

Note - Preparation time is approximately 45-50 minutes and this quantity should be enough for 4-5 persons. 

MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja - Tomato Soup

Tomato Soup

Tomato soup is a treat for health conscious people as it is loaded with vitamins and minerals. It serves as a good appetizer and helps one to keep warm on cold days. Earlier, I used to make tomato soup with only tomatoes. Over a period of time, I saw many friends adding other vegetables too and modified my recipe. This recipe is somewhat similar to what my nutritionist sister-in-law prepares.

 Ingredients

Tomatoes - 4 nos large, ripe

Onion - 1 no

Potato - 1 small

Carrot - 1 no

Salt - As per taste

Sugar - 1 to 2 teaspoon

Water - Approx 1 to 1½ litre

 Black Pepper Powder - ½ teaspoon

Red Chilly Powder - ¼ teaspoon

Corn flour - 2 teaspoons

Bread Croutons - 1 cup

Cream (optional) - 2 tablespoons

Soup Sticks (optional)

Method

Peel and chop onion. Chop tomatoes. Peel and grate potato and carrot. Take all vegetables in a pan and add approx 750 ml water and bring to a boil. Cook for about 10 minutes, remove from fire and strain and set the stock aside. Allow the vegetables to cool and then, blend them into a smooth paste. Mix this paste again with the stock and strain again. Now, boil the soup, add sugar, salt and chilly powder. Add more water if required. Mix corn flour with little water and add gradually to the soup while stirring continuously. Serve piping hot, topped with cream, black pepper powder and bread croutons.

Bread croutons are made by cutting bread slices into cubes and frying till golden brown and crispy. If you wish to cut out the oil, use soup sticks instead.

Note - Preparation time is about half hour and this quantity is enough for four persons.

MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja - Sweet Corn Chicken Soup

Sweet Corn Chicken Soup

Sweet Corn Chicken Soup is a tasty appetizer and sure to keep one warm on cold wintry days. It is essentially a Chinese recipe that has found worldwide popularity for its delectable taste. I use all fresh ingredients for my recipe of sweet corn chicken soup. The soup tastes more delicious with fresh ingredients.

Ingredients

Chicken - 250n gms with bones

Sweet corn kernels (fresh) - 2 cups

Water - Approx 1½ litre

Sugar - 1 teaspoon

Salt - As per taste

Black Pepper Powder - ¼ teaspoon

Soy sauce - Optional

Corn flour - 2 -3 tablespoons

Egg - 1 no

Spring onion leaves (optional) - For garnish

Method

Boil and cook chicken with salt in 4 cups of water for about 20 minutes. Strain the stock, allow the chicken to cool, remove the bones and keep the shredded chicken aside. Boil the sweet corn kernels. Keep half cup of the kernels aside. Grind/blend the rest one and half cup sweet corn kernels with water and strain through a strainer to get a solution of sweet corn. Mix the chicken stalk and sweet corn solution and bring to a boil. Add salt and sugar as per taste. Add sweet corn kernels and half of the shredded chicken. Make a paste of corn flour with little water and gradually add the corn flour mixture and stir continuously to get a thick consistency.

Separate the egg yolk and white. Pour the egg white gradually in the soup and keep stirring lightly. Switch off the fire. Serve piping hot, topped with shredded chicken and spring onion leaves.

Note - You can use tinned corn if fresh corn is not available. Preparation time is approximately 45-50 minutes. This quantity makes about five cups of soup.

MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja - Sweet Corn Vegetable Soup

Sweet Corn Vegetable Soup

Sweet Corn Vegetable Soup is one essential appetizer that most of us opt for on a wintry day to warm up and comfort ourselves. It is loaded with nutrition. Generally, in the restaurants, you get sweet corn vegetable soup made of tinned corn. I prefer to make my soup from fresh ingredients.

Ingredients

Sweet corn kernels (fresh) - 2 cups

Vegetable stock/Plain Water - 5 cups

Grated carrot - 25 gms

Cabbage (finely chopped) - 25 gms

French Beans (finely chopped) - 25 gms

Corn flour - 2 -3 tablespoons

Sugar - 1 teaspoon

Salt - As per taste

Black Pepper Powder - ¼ teaspoon

Soy sauce - Optional

Cream - 1 tablespoon

Spring onion leaves (optional) - For garnish

Method

Boil the sweet corn kernels. Keep half cup of the kernels aside. Grind/blend the rest one and half cup sweet corn kernels with water/vegetable stock and strain through a strainer to get a solution of sweet corn. Make a paste of corn flour with little water and set aside. Bring the sweet corn blended mixture to a boil and add salt and sugar. Now, gradually add the corn flour mixture and stir continuously to get a thick consistency. Finally add the boiled sweet corn kernels, finely chopped carrot, cabbage and beans and remove from fire. Serve piping hot and top with a dash of pepper powder, cream n soy sauce.

Note - If you wish to make only sweet corn soup, then omit the vegetables.  

MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja - Crispy Karela(Bitter Gourd)

Crispy Karela (Bitter Gourd)

The crispy karela is a dish of its kind, very tempting and sinful. I had tasted this at a Bengali friend’s place and liked it a lot and was quite surprised to know that it is such a simple recipe and did not involve the procedure of removing bitterness of the bitter gourd. Considering its irresistible taste, it is okay to indulge once in a while in this deep fried delicacy. It is a deep fried recipe, so health conscious people please beware. Actually, it is not as oily as it is made out to be, does not take up much oil while frying and one can drain the excess oil on paper. This recipe is slightly time consuming as frying takes a lot of time.

Bitter Gourd/Karela/Karle is one vegetable that is not liked by many people as it tastes bitter. It is a seasonal vegetable and comes in late summers and stays through the monsoons. It has many nutritional and medicinal benefits and should be consumed when available during the season. It can be prepared in many varied ways as fried chips, dry vegetable and semi dry with masala, masala filled karela or as fresh juice too. Mostly, many places the bitter gourd is rubbed with salt and left for about an hour or half and then washed with water to remove the bitterness. Some people boil it in water for about 10 minutes and strain the water to remove the bitterness. My mother also used to follow similar procedures to remove the bitterness. Over the years, I found that many of my friends used the bitter gourd directly and the prepared dish did not taste bitter at all. So, now, even I make my bitter gourd vegetable directly. Many people remove the central pith too along with seeds, but, I learnt to use that too as per one of my aunt’s recipe. The bitterness of bitter gourd is reduced by adding tamarind/lemon and sugar/jaggery to the vegetable preparation.

Ingredients

Bitter Gourd - 250 gms

Onions - 3 medium sized

Oil- Approx 150 ml

Salt - As per taste

Red Chilly Powder- ½ teaspoon

Powdered Sugar - 1 teaspoon

Method

Slice onions lengthwise and chop bitter gourd into thin roundels. Heat oil in a kadahi (pan) and fry onion till it turns crispy and golden brown. Drain excess oil on paper. Now fry the bitter gourd roundels till they turn crispy. Drain the excess oil on fry. The frying needs to be done on a high flame and you need to keep turning the onion and bitter gourd pieces occasionally so that they do not burn. Finally, mix all the fried onion and bitter gourd and sprinkle with salt, chilly and powders. Crispy Karela is ready to be relished, tastes good with roti, chapatti and rice or can be eaten just like that

MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja -Club Sandwiches (Vegetarian)

Club Sandwich (Vegetarian)
 Vegetarian club sandwich is easy to make and delicious to taste. It serves as a good, sumptuous breakfast for the health conscious as it has all the right nutrients and is good as a party snack too.

Ingredients

Bread Slices – 6 nos

Green Chutney – 2 teaspoons (5-6 sprigs coriander, 1 green chilly, salt, water)

Tomato Sauce – 2 teaspoons

Full Cream/ Cheese spread – 2 teaspoons

Boiled Potato (peeled and sliced) – 1 no

Cucumber (peeled and sliced) – 1 no

Tomato (sliced) – 1 no

Lettuce/Cabbage (finely chopped) – 3 leaves

Butter (optional) – 1 teaspoon

Method

Toast the bread slices lightly in a non stick pan. Apply cream or cheese spread on one bread slice. Top it with potato slices and chopped cabbage/lettuce. Apply green chutney to the next bread slice and place on top of it. Now place cucumber and tomato slices over it. Apply tomato sauce to the last bread slice and place on top of it. Now toast/grill the sandwich and make it a nice golden brown on both sides. You may use butter if you wish to while toasting. Serve hot with tomato sauce as accompaniment.

Note - You can vary the salads as per your wish, also the chutneys and spreads. The non vegetarians may add salami slices in place of potato.

MyMusingsSangSpeak-Pet Puja - Kurkuri Bhindi

Kurkuri Bhindi(Crispy Okra)

Kurkuri Bhindi is a Rajasthani recipe. I had tasted it at friend’s places, hotels and in the mess too. I loved the taste of this crispy lady’s finger preparation. I always felt that this is quite a difficult dish to prepare and oily one for that, so, had avoided making it till recently. Last month I tried it out and realized it is so simple and not as oily as I thought it would be. Some of my friends tried it too and were quite happy to relish it.

Ingredients

Bhindi(Lady’s Finger/Okra) – 250 gms

Cumin Powder – ½ teaspoon

Coriander Powder - ½ teaspoon

Turmeric Powder – ¼ teaspoon

Red Chilly Powder – ½ teaspoon

Salt – As per taste

Gram flour (Besan) – 2 tablespoons

Oil – Approx 150 ml

Method

Wash lady’s finger and pat dry with a clean napkin. Slit lengthwise and make 8 pieces of every lady's finger. Sprinkle cumin, coriander, chilly and turmeric powders and leave aside for about 20-25 minutes. Then sprinkle salt and gram flour and toss for 2 minutes for even coverage of all lady finger pieces. Heat oil in a pan till it is hot and fry the masala covered lady finger in batches on medium fire. Keep stirring occasionally and remove from oil once they turn crispy. Spread on paper to remove extra oil and serve hot.

Note – Choose tender lady’s fingers for this particular recipe.