Bhindi/ Okra Masala

There are a couple of posts in which I have used okra as the primary ingredient. Every time I use okra, I try to make it a point to clarify that it is a tricky vegetable to cook with. If not done right, it can get slimy and texturally unappealing. A simple trick can get it right and avoid keeping you from liking an otherwise wonderful vegetable. The trick is as simple as dry them completely after washing and before cooking and always cook them uncovered. Most people just fry them to avoid the slime but using these two simple tricks, you can uncover a whole new side of okra. This okra preparation is tangy and mildly spicy and one of my personal favorites. Even though you will intend to serve it as a side to a meal, they tend to be more popular as finger food and will be gone before you get a chance to serve!

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Jeera Aloo/Cumin Flavored Stir Fried Potatoes

 If you are ever in a rush but still want to eat a tasty, savory home-cooked meal - sounds like most of the time, doesn't it - this dish might just be your perfect answer. Ready in under ten minutes if you have the ingredients and very versatile in what it can go with. Hubs tells me he relates to this dish in a rather strange sort of way. In his single days in India, when he almost always ate out at restaurants, he always saw this dish in most every menu but always ignored it - who goes to a restaurant to eat sauteed potatoes, right? Well right until he got so sick of eating the same paneer and mushroom every single time that he finally ordered it with some plain rice and yellow daal and loved it. That's how he says he remembers this dish. Not a very fun way to remember such a flavorful preparation, I tease him, and we have a good laugh about it.
Indeed, there is something to be said about the versatility of this dish. Eat it as a side with some rice and daal or just with your humble roti and it becomes lunch or dinner, wrap it up with some lettuce and onions in a tortilla and it makes for a great wrap or just stick some toothpicks in them and they are a great starter. What's more is that they are a great picnic food too and can be carried in a lunchbox for a few hours without the need to be refrigerated. This makes them great for short trips as well. Give it a try and it tends to stick with you for those times when you cannot think of anything else or those when you simply crave them.

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Aloo gobhi masala

loo gobhi, always a crowd pleaser, is a combination of two most universally loved vegetables potato and cauli cooked together with various spices in an onion tomato base. This humble dish is staple in many Indian homes - except of course those times of the year when gobhi is ridculously expensive - and can be made many different ways. Aloo gobhi rose to international fame in Gurinder Chadda's movie "Bend it like Beckham". It is weird but every time I make aloo gobhi it reminds me of the famous dialogue from the movie where the mom tells the football playing daughter "aloo gobhi banana seekh le warna shaadi kaun karega" (learn to make aloo gobhi to get a prospective groom which she can only get by knowing how to cook this and not playing football, HA HA)!
I like the simplicity of the dish and the amazing taste. Can be served as lunch or dinner accompanied with roti, paratha or rice. They make a great filling for wraps and a great pizza/tart topping for that matter. Now there are a number of ways in which I make Aloo Gobhi - the party or potluck way, with gravy, without gravy, my mom's way the Bihari way. This I guess is the way I make it that I have developed on my own having eaten it at several restaurant and adding my own twist.

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Dahi Nariyal wali Bhindi/Okra in coconut and yogurt sauce

es I am back. I realize it is unusual for me to go without a post for a fortnight and thanks to many of my readers that missed me. Lets just say life gets in the way sometimes. Here I am with a simple homey bhindi/okra dish the recipe of which I've had for a really long time in my diary (remember the little 'yellowing' notebook). As I sat back and thought about my history of cooking, nostalgia struck and hence the thought of getting to my good old diary. I remember having taken down this recipe during my college days from a magazine. I still remember it was a dish by the famous Indian celebrity chef Tarla Dalal whose recipes were a regular feature in the magazine.

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Gobhi 65/Spicy Cauliflower Tempura Indian Style

ummer is at its peak and the sun scorches the earth every day. Its almost midnight here and its 86 degrees outside *phew*. In the relentless heat however the rain gods do peek in every other day to provide some very welcome relief.
It was such an afternoon on Saturday this past weekend when the rains were especially merciful. As it rained cats and dogs, we sat on our patio on a Saturday afternoon - which usually means shopping afternoon - and marveled on how beautiful nature was (yes hubby and I still get corny sometimes about that stuff). Somehow the conversation changed very quickly to food (are you kiddin' me) and we were talking about how nice it would be to get something hot and crispy to munch on. I was immediately like 'lemme go and make some pakoras'. Hubby not being that much a fan of pakoras, I instantly sensed that on his face. That is when I was reminded of this fabulous appetizer that we had had at an Indian restaurant during our last vacation a couple of months ago. I had totally loved it then and my analyzing taste buds had read the recipe right then and there and kept it somewhere in my head. Yes I recalled it then and here's the result for you to see and enjoy.
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