Showing posts with label COOK-A-THON. Show all posts
Showing posts with label COOK-A-THON. Show all posts

Wednesday, 9 November 2016

COOK-A-THON- Chole Masala



Whenever we hear of Chole puri the foodie inside all of us cannot resist from taking a bite. The taste of chole puri can be enjoyed by sitting at your home  Whenever you get the urge to have some delicious yummy spicy. Not so difficult to make a chole puri at your home. Yes it takes time but patience is all you need to keep to enjoy a sumptuous bowl of chole.

Recipe:

1. Soak a bowl of chole(Chick peas or Kabuli Chana) in a pressure cooker overnight. We want the chick peas to soak the water as much as possible and it wont take much time while cooking. If you get the craving of having chole and you don't have much time all you need is cook chole for more whistles than the soaked ones,

2. In a pressure cooker put these soaked chole add 1-2 tsp of salt, 1 large indian bay leaf(tej patta), and 1-2 tea bags( to give the lovely black colour to the choles while they cook). Now if you donot have tea bags so in a small pan you can boil some tea  let it come to boil strain it and then put that water to the pressure cooker. You have to be carefull with the amount of tea you use you don't want too much of black colour taking away the natural colour of the chick peas.

3. Now we have to cook these chickpeas for atleast 5 whistles. After that we will take the lid off and check whether the chickpeas are properly cooked.

4. you have to take out some amount of chickpeas that has cooked take them out on the plate and mash them up. This helps in getting the gravy that thick consistency we usually see in the Punjabi chole.






5.We need to take a tava or any pan put some cumin seeds, dalchini sticks(cinnamon stick), 2-3 green cardamom, 2-3 black pepper, little bit of turmeric, some red chilli powder, some garam masala and dry roast it. we don't need to burn it . we just want that roasted masala fragrance to get mixed with our chole. This is my way of cooking these.

6. Now in a kadai take some 2-3 tsp of ghee and heat it.




7. Once the ghee is hot we will add some 2 green chillies finely chopped, and 2 medium sized onions chopped length wise, some ginger garlic paste and cook the onions for 2 minutes until they are soft.






8. Once the onions are soft we will add 2 tomatoes roughly chopped and keep cooking till the ghee starts leaving the masala and tomatoes become mushy. Now the seasoning add some salt, 1 tsp of coriander powder, some finely chopped ginger too(I love the taste of whole ginger), 1 tsp garam masala, 1/2 tsp of amchur powder(raw mango powder) you can use some lemon incase you don't have amchur powder, 1 tsp of fennel powder(saunf optional it is saunf is good for digestion and makes the gravy thick too), 1 tsp red chilli powder.

​​​​9.Add the dry roasted masala to the mixture. 1-2 tsp of Everest Chole Masala.

9. Cook the masala on a low flame for 3-4 minutes. Mix the masala with the cooked chick peas. Add 2 cups of water and let it cook for some 5-10 minutes on low flame. Keep Stiring in between until the gravy gets thick.



10. Garnish with some freshly chopped coriander leaves and serve with bhature, puri or some plain rice.


- MANOJ PANDITA









Saturday, 5 November 2016

WEEKEND COOK-A-THON : KASHMIRI HAAK ( GANTHGOBI OR SAAG)

Kashmiri saag is one of the most commonly cooked vegetables in the Kashmiri household. It is an inseparable cuisine for all functions and festivals. The best part about this dish is the minimal cooking time it takes. The leaves look like spinach along with the bulb like shalgam which is green in colour. Kashmiri Haak can be cooked in different styles with lotus stem(nadru haak), or if you like your curry a bit spicy add red chilli powder to make the curry red. But the real Kashmiri Haak doesnt have any onions tomatoes no masala.


Without wasting much more time here we go.!!!!!!.

1. Peel off the skin from the shalgam.Be carefull you dont want to peel off to much of the shalgam.


2. Using a slicer just make medium sized round pieces of the shalgam.



3. Now strip the leaves into half.


4. Be careful while you cut the leaves into half do check for bugs as when kept in stores you may find. check for short white lines on the leaves if you find tear that part off.


5.Wash the slices of the shalgam and the leaves.




6. In a pressure cooker hot some mustard oil. Now rush into putting the vegetables when you cook with mustard oil. let it get hot untill you see smoke oozing out of the oil.Lower the flame and then put the vegetables. If not heated properly the fragrance of raw mustard oil can get into the dish.


7. Cut some 3-4 green red chilllies if you have slit them and put it into the hot oil.

8. A pinch of hing(asafoetida) and then put all the leaves and the slices into the pressure cooker.





9. Now stir the whole leaves and slices so that they all get coated with the oil.


10. Put 2 glasses of water and let it come to boil.


11.Cover the lid and wait upto 4-5 whistles and take out the weight.


12. Boil it for 3-4 minutes and its done.


13. Serve it with some steamed rice.


Tip: To maintain the green colour of the haak a little pinch of meetha soda(Sodium Bicarbonate) is also added.


       Kashmiri Haak is seasonal you do not get it for the whole year.





- MANOJ PANDIT