Pigeon Peas/ Gunga Peas or Lilva Tuvar Curry

Pigeon Peas is also called Gunga peas or Lilva tuvar gungo and come in various forms. When they are fresh and green, they can be peeled like fresh peas. You can get fresh, frozen or tinned varieties of pigeon peas in most Asian supermarkets.

Ingredients (serves 2):

Cooking time : 20 minutes

2 cups of boiled pigeon peas
½ a can of crushed tomatoes ( you can used fresh tomatoes or passata too)
2 tablespoon cooking oil (I used sunflower oil)
1 teaspoon dry cumin seeds,
2 small pieces of cinnamon,
3 cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon chilly powder
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
½ teaspoon of garam masala
1 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoons jaggery or brown sugar (optional)
1 small bunch of coriander and some curry leaves.
1 tablespoon dessicated coconut
2 fresh green chillies

Method:

1 Heat the 2 tablespoons cooking oil and add the cumin seeds, cloves and cinnamon. The cloves will pop and the cumin needs to cook until it goes dark.

3. Add the garlic, curry leaves and tomatoes to the mixture and stir.

4. Add all the spices, lemon and jaggery to the tomato mixture.

5. Cook all the ingredients until the tomatoes go soft and homogenous.

6. Add the boiled pigeon peas to the mixture and cook for a further 10 minutes on a medium heat.

7. Add the garam masala and remove the pigeon peas curry to a serving dish and sprinkle it with some chopped green chillies, desiccated coconut and coriander.

8. This curry should be served hot with rice or any of the Indian breads.

I served this with coriander and green chilly flavoured parathas (recipe to follow)..

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Mango Chundo (Mango preserve) – Microwave version

Most Indian dishes are accompanied by chutneys and pickles of some sort. Some are made fresh on the day and some last longer. This Mango Chundo is a popular preserve from the Gujarat side of India. It has a sweet and sour taste and if made correctly, can last a long time. I tend to make it and keep in small jars rather than putting it all in one big jar. By using a bottle at a time, the preserve lasts longer. This chundo is best made with raw mangoes. I bought some at the Asian stores and they are called Rajapuri mangoes.  These mangoes have a small stone and lots of pulp so although they may be expensive, they are worth it as you get a lot of mango pulp and mangoes have the taste and  aroma you can only dream of.

Ingredients for about 2 Jam jars worth of Chundo (approximately a 1,000 grams)

2 large Rajapuri or similar mangoes (the grated weight of the 2 mangoes was 775 grams)
700 grams sugar (you could use another 50 grams less too!)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
1-2 teaspoons chilly powder
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
5-8 cloves
5-8 cinnamon sticks
Teaspoon of cardamom seeds
5-8 whole pepper cones
1 tablespoon sunflower oil

Method

1. Peel the mangoes and wash them whole and dry them with a kitchen paper.

2. Grate the mangoes and weigh them. (This is essential as you need to use sugar slightly less than the weight of the mangoes) 

3. Add the salt and turmeric to the grated mango and mix well.

4. Keep this covered for 30 minutes.

5. The salt will make the mango mixture runny.

6. Now add the sugar. The amount of sugar depends on the weight of the grated mango. Most recipes ask for one and a half times the weight of the mango. My advice is to use at least 100 grams less than the weight of the mangoes. This is for 2 reasons – one is for health reasons. Too much sugar can’t be good for anyone!! Another is that the pickle needs to be sweet and sour and for that reason – go easy on the sugar.

7. When you mix the sugar, the mixture will become even runnier.

8. Transfer this to a large microwave dish with a lid. The timings for cooking in  the microwave will depend on the weight of the mango and sugar mixture plus the size and speed of your microwave.

9. Microwave this mixture on a high for 10 minutes, remove and stir the mixture. The mixture will still look quite runny.

10. Again microwave on high for 10 minutes, remove and stir the mixture.

11. By now, you’ll notice that the mixture is starting to look darker and thicker.

12. Keep repeating the microwave cooking and stirring for 5 minutes at a time.

13.  My chundo took about 35 - 38 minutes to cook.  When only a small amount of moisture remains, stir and leave the mixture to cool. You will notice that it continues to thicken and the consistency of the chundo will look similar to marmalade.

14. Whilst it’s cooling, add the chilly powder. The amount of chilly powder shouldn’t over power the sweet and sour taste so add one teaspoon and then the second one if you feel it needs an extra kick! .

Now prepare the tempering with the spices:

15. In another microwave dish, add the spices -cinnamon, cardamom, whole peppercones, cloves and cumin. Warm these spices for a minute. This will release the oils in the spices and produce a lovely aroma.

16. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the spices and heat it in the microwave for 2 minutes.

17. Now add this spice mixture to the mango chundo and stir.

18. Once this mixture cools, transfer the chundo to clean sterilized bottles and enjoy with any Indian dish.

Like all my recipes, I take great pride in givng you as many details as I can so that you can easily follow the instructions and also have the confidence that the recipe will work.  I hope that when you follow any of my recipes, you will let me have your opinion on how the dish turned out!

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Multigrain Dhebra with methi (fenugreek), semolina and organic flaxseed powder

Most Gujarati's make different variations of  Dhebras  as they are tasty and last a couple of days. They are perfect for picnics and lunch boxes.    I had posted a recipe for Methi na Dhebra last summer.  Since then, I made several different variations of dhebras and wanted to share this variation with you.  I have used the same flours as the previous recipe but also added coarse semolina and flax powder to make these dhebras.   The semolina, gave them extra texture and taste.  I added the flax powder as it is a rich source of essential fatty acids such as Omega 3, active enzymes and fibre.  The taste of the dhebras was still just as nice.

Most of the ingredients and the full recipe is here.  The extra ingredients are in bold in the recipe below:

Ingredients for about 25-30 dhebras:

1 cup millet flour

1 cup wheat flour

½ cup chana (chick pea) flour

½ cup of semolina

½ cup of Organic sprouted Flax powder

1 cup cut and washed fresh fenugreek

1 teaspoon finely blended green chillies ( I used 1 tablespoon as I like my dhebras hot and spicy)

1 teaspoon finely blended ginger

1 teaspoon finely blended garlic

salt to taste

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 -2 tablespoon sesame seeds.

2 tablespoons cooking oil

1 cup of fresh live Yoghurt ( I used homemade yoghurt)

1 litre oil for deep frying (I used sunflower oil)

Method:

1. Sieve all the three flours, semolina and Flax powder  in a mixing bowl.

2. Add the fenugreek leaves, salt, turmeric, sesame seeds, ginger, garlic and green chillies.

3. Make a dip in the middle of the flours and add the 2 tablespoons of oil.

4. Add half cup water to the yogurt and mix well using a fork. This recipe works great with sour yogurt as it gives a tangy taste to the dhebras.

5. Slowly add the watery yogurt to the flour and make a dough. The dough should be semi-soft.

6. Cover this dough and leave it in a warm place overnight.

7. On the next day,  make the dhebras.

8. The dhebras need to be deep fried so heat the oil in a wok

9. On a chappati stand or any work top, cover the area with a plastic.  The plastic makes it easy for you to lift up the dhebras.

10. Divide the dough into small balls.

11. Grease your hands with some oil and make the dhebras by patting on the dough balls.

12. Lift the dhebras by lifting the plastic and transfering them to your hand.

13.  Deep fry the dhebras until golden brown.   I put the dhebras in hot oil, then turn down the heat and let the dhebras cook gently.  Leaving the dhebra mixture to ferment in yogurt overnight helps to make the dhebras nice and fluffy.

14. Serve them with some chutney and a cup of tea.  Dhebras taste great cold as well.

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Spicy sauted potatoes with sweetcorn and peanuts

There are thousands of varieties of potatoes in the World and most of us will have certain favourites for certain dishes.  Most of us who cook regularly, will have worked out which potatoes to use for curries, chips, etc.etc.   The ones I used for this recipe are the ones used mostly for making Jacket potatoes - a  variety called Estima.  These potatoes can be baked or boiled and really make great Jacket potatoes.  I love having Jacket potatoes as a quick snack but sometimes, I prefer to have them spicer with a hint of Indian spices.   One of the ways of making the potato spicer is to sauté it with the spices. Everytime, I make this, I experiment with the spices and condiments.  Please use this recipe as a guide but enjoy trying out different varations.

Ingredients:

2 large Jacket potatoes
½  cup of  sweetcorn
½ cup of peanuts
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of oil
1 teaspoon of cummin seeds
some fresh coriander (optional)
1 green chilly (optional)
2 teaspoon lemon and 1 teaspoon sugar to taste (optional)
honey mustard sauce to taste (optional)
Grated cheddar or mozarella cheese (optional)

Method:

1.  Wash the potato and  score it in the middle with a sharp knife.

2.  Boil the potatoes in a saucepan of water or wrap them in a wet kitchen paper and cook them in the microwave.  I prefer to steam them in a pressure cooker.

3. Once cooked, peel the potato, cut them into cubes and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

4. In a frying pan, heat  1 tablespoons of oil and add the cumin seeds.

5.  Add the peanuts and allow them to brown slightly.

6. Now add the sweet corn .  Add the salt and pepper to the sweet corn.

7.  Add in the potatoes and stir well.

8. Add the sugar and lemon and fresh coriander (and the green chilly if you like hot food) to the potatoes.  If you like honey mustard, add this just before serving the dish.

9. Allow the potatoes to sauté well.

10.  Serve this hot.

11.  If you like cheese, you can sprinkle some grated cheese on top of your potatoes.

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Bhatura - Indian bread

Bhatura is a Punjabi specialty.  Bhaturas make a nice combination to have with allu chole. Like a lot of Indian dishes, preparation in important. The bhatura dough needs to be kept covered in a warm place at least 4 hours for them to be nice and fluffy.


Ingredients for 15 -20 bhaturas

2 cups Plain flour
¼ cup finely ground semolina
¼ cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

Method:

1. Sieve the plain flour and semolina in a mixing bowl.

2. Add the salt, baking powder and yogurt.

3. Add warm water to the flour and form a soft dough.

4. Kneed well and keep it covered in a warm place for 4 hours or more.

5. Divide the dough into small balls the size of a golf ball.

6. Roll out your bhaturas in a oval shape.  The bhaturas should be left thicker than you would for puris.

7. The bhaturas need to be deep fried in hot oil. Like puris, heat the oil and reduce the flame to medium and cook a couple of bhaturas at a time.

8. Like puris, the bhaturas should rise. Turn them over once, cook second side and remove onto a kitchen paper.

9. Traditionally bhaturas are served with chickpea and potato curry – often referred to as Allu Chole.

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Farari Potato and Topiaco Pattis

As I have told you in earlier posting, on the days we Hindus fast, there is a list of foods that we are “allowed” to eat. The list - often referred to as farari food - includes all the fruits and nuts, milk and milk products including yogurt. It also includes potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, tapiaco, ragigara flour etc…. In fact, the sumptuous delicacies you can eat in place of everyday food makes you feel that you are having a feast because of the variety you can make.

One of the delicacies I make is pattis made from potato and topiaco.  These pattis can be eaten as a farrari dish or also with radga as ragda pattis.

Ingredients for 4 servings:

3 medium sized potatoes
1 cup of topiaco
1 teaspoon gratted ginger
2-3 fresh green chillies chopped finely
small bunch of coriander
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon coarse pepper
1 -2 teaspoons sugar (optional)
1-2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice (optional)
1 litre tablespoons of cooking oil (I used sunflower oil)
Fresh curry leaves (optional)

Method:

1. Soak the topiaco in just enough water to cover them. Check after half an hour and the topiaco should be soft now. If not, add a bit more water and check in 10 to 15 minutes.

2. In the mean time, Steam or boil the potatoes in their jackets. Best way is to wash the potatoes; then score around the potato across the length by running a knife around the potato. Once boiled, check that they are cooked through and allow them to cool. Once cooled, peel the potato. Peeling is easy if you have scored the potatoes.

3. Mash up the topiaco and potatoes. Add the ginger, chillies, salt, pepper, the coriander, lemon and sugar.

4.  Divide this mixture into 15-20 small balls.  The balls should be like small marbles rather than golf balls. 

5.  Lightly oil your fingers and press the balls to form small pattis.

6.   On a lightly oiled frying pan, cook the pattis turning them  slowing when  they get golden brown. 

7.  Serve the patttis with yogurt on its own or with the rest of your farrari food.  As I told you earlier, it can also be eaten as ragda pattis.

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