Gobi Manchurian Dry (Cauliflower Manchurian)

It was a rainy evening and the mood was feeling dull. Then all of a sudden we decided to have some Milagai bhajji . But being in London, it was not possible to buy the Milagai :-( . So, we decided on Cauliflower bhajjis as the florets were readily available at that time. I also had to cook for the evening and suddenly thought of extending this to a Cauliflower manchurian after having a few bites of the Bhajjis.

 

Gobi Manchurian is a delicious Indo-chinese dish which goes very well with rice or chappathis. Let us see how to make it. It takes about 45 minutes to prepare the dish.

Ingredients:

         Cauliflower – 1 medium (cut it into florets)

         Cut spring onions - 1 cup

         Chopped Onion – 1 cup

         Chopped garlic – 1/2 cup

         Tomato Ketchup – 1 cup (Preferably Hot and sweet)

         Chilli garlic sauce – 1 cup

         Vinegar – 2 tsp

         Soya sauce – 2 tsp

        Water – 2 cups

        Oil – 1 cup

         All purpose flour (Maida) – 1 cup

        Corn starch – 5 tsp

        Chilli powder – a pinch

        Ground black pepper – 1 tsp

         Salt – to taste

       Turmeric – 1/4 tsp 

 

Method:

 

For the preparation of Gravy:

1.     Heat a tsp of oil in a pan. Add the chopped onions into the pan. Sauté it until it is well cooked.

2.     Add the chopped garlic to the onion and sauté it well until the raw smell of the garlic is gone.

3.    Now, add the tomato ketchup and the chilli garlic sauce to the onion and garlic mixture and mix it well. Keep stirring the mixture. If the mixture is very thick, add water to the mixture.

4.   After the mixture comes to a consistency, add the vinegar and the soya sauce and 1/2 tsp of corn flour(Corn flour acts as a thickening agent). Cook for about 4-5 minutes in medium flame.

5.    Remove from heat and allow it cool.

 

Preparing the batter and Frying cauliflower :

Microwave the cauliflower florets, water along with turmeric and a pinch of salt for about 5 minutes. (If you dont have a microwave, in a thick bottomed pan add the same mixture and cook for about 7-8 minutes). This helps to cook the florets easily. After it is done, drain the water and dry the cooked florets.

•  Add 1 cup of all purpose flour, 3 to 4 tsp of corn flour(it helps to add crispiness to the fried cauliflower), a pinch of chilli powder , 1 tsp of the ground pepper and some salt to taste.
• Add water to this mixture and mix it well. Ensure that the mixture is not too watery.
• In a thick bottomed pan heat oil for frying.
• Once the oil heats up, dip each floret in the batter and drop it in the oil .
•  Fry the florets in oil until it turns golden brown. Remove and place it separately.·        

Final Mixing:

In a pan add the gravy and heat it up for some time in a low flame. Add the fried cauliflower florets, cut spring onions and mix  well with the sauce gravy and cook for about 8-10 minutes.  Remove it from the flame.

Cauliflower Manchurian is ready to be served with rice or chappathi.

Tip: If corn starch is not available, add rice flour wherever needed as it serves the same purpose as corn starch like thickening and adding crispiness.

Sprout & Mint Cutlet (Payaru-pudina Cutlet)

As my experiment in  the kitchen continues,  here is yet another dish which is healthy as well as tasty.

 

Ingredients:

     Sprouted Green Gram(Moong) – 1 cup

     Chopped Mint and coriander leaves – 1 cup  

     Dhania (coriander powder) - 2tsp

·          Green Chilli – 3 to 4 nos

 

           Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp

 

           Oil - 1 cup

 

·           Salt – to taste

 

Preparation of  green gram sprout:

 Take 1 cup of whole green gram and immerse it in water for about 8 hrs.

 

 Strain the water and take a cloth and cover the green gram and keep it in a dry place.

 

 In a day or two, all the green gram would have sprouted which can be used for preparing any dish of our choice.

Method :

 Take a cup of sprout and the green chillies and grind it coarsely in a mixer. Do not pour water as the water in the sprout is more than enough.

 

 Mix the coarsely ground sprout with dhania, salt and asafoetida well.

 

Make small puddings in a shape of your choice and roll them over on the chopped mint and coriander leaves.

 Heat oil in a pan and cook the cutlet until it turns golden brown. Make sure it gets cooked on all sides.

 

Serve it hot with green chutney or tomato sauce.

Baingan Bhartha (Mashed Eggplant/ Brinjal gravy)

My Husband loves Baingan in any form. So, I wanted to try this Baingan ka Bhartha. Came out well :) and he loved it ! Here is the recipe

Ingredients:

• Brinjal or Eggplant – 2 or 3 nos
• Cumin seeds or Jeera – 1/2 tsp
• Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
• Tomato (finely chopped) – 2 nos
• Onion (finely chopped) – 2  nos
• Garam Masala Powder – 1 tspTurmeric Powder -1/2 tsp
• Green Chilli (chopped) – 2 to 3 no.s
• Red Chilli Powder – ½ tsp
• Coriander Powder or Dhania – 1/2 tsp
• Cooked Peas(Optional) – ½ cup
• Lemon (optional) – 1 no.
• Oil – 3 tsp (Prefer it less oily. If you want to be a little more oily, you can add a few tsps extra)
• Butter – ¼ tsp
• Salt to taste
• Chopped Coriander Leaves – 1 cup

Method :

• Roast the Brinjal on a medium the flame. Keep roasting  it until the skin on all sides become soft and can be easily peeled off.
• Once it cools, peel off the skin and mash the pulp either with hand or using  a mixer.
• Now heat oil and butter in a pan. Once it is hot, add cumin seeds.
• Next, add the chopped onions, green chillies and ginger garlic paste.
• Saute it until the raw smell goes off . Now add the chopped tomatoes and the masala   powders(Mixture of turmeric, garam masala, coriander powder and the red chilli. Saute the mixture until it becomes soft and oil gets separated.
• Now, add the mashed Brinjal, the cooked peas(if needed), and salt to taste and mix  well.
• Cook on low flame for a about 10 minutes.
• Add the chopped coriander leaves and remove from flame.
• Baingan ka Bhartha is ready to be served with Rice or hot roti.
• In case you need some tangy flavor, you can add some lemon juice to it. It tastes really good.

Cheers! See you all with a new recipe

Karunai Kizhangu masiyal (Smashed Yam Gravy)

Karunai Kizhangu masiyal is a popular dish in Tamil Nadu. Yam is a commonly used vegetable in South Indian recipes. There are two varieties of Yam. (This is one of my Mom's famous recipes) 

·         Yam or Karunai Kizhangu

·         Elephant Yam or Senai Kizhangu

We can use any of these two varieties to make the dish.

Ingredients:

·         Yam/Karunai Kizhangu  - 250 grms

·         Green Chilli                 - 4 nos

·         Ginger                        - 1 small piece

·         Mustard                      - 1 tsp

·         Urad dhal                   – 1 tsp

·         Coriander leaves        - a few

·         Turmeric                    – 1/4 tsp

Preparation of Ginger paste:

·         Take 1/2 the ginger and peal off the skin of the ginger. Grind the green chillies(2 nos) and the ginger to form a nice paste.

Method:

1. Peal off the skin of the yam and wash it well. 

2. Pressure cook the yam.(Leave it for about 3-4 whistles if you are cooking in a pressure cooker). 

3. After the yam cools, smash it well using a blender. This helps to avoid lump formation. 

4. Heat the oil in a thick bottomed pan. 

5. Add mustard seeds. When the mustard splutters, add urad dhal and sauté it until it turns golden brown. 

6. Now, add the smashed yam, turmeric powder, the green chillies and ginger paste, salt. 

7. Chop the remaining green chillies, the ginger and the coriander leaves.Add them to the mixture. 

8. Stir well and add some water if the mixture is thick. 

9. Cook for about 8-10 minutes. Keep stirring as the mixture can get settled in the bottom of the pan. The masiyal is ready to be served with rice.

Rava Kesari (Sooji Halwa)

My First Recipe.. Starting off with a Sweet. Hearing this dialogue" Sweet edu, Kondadu" 

Rava Kesari is a dessert that is loved by one and all. It can be made in a few minutes'time and thus can be a great dessert when guests visit us. It is also served in many temples as prassad. We made it for our wedding anniversary and here you go for the recipe.

Main ingredients :

Semolina / sooji – 1 cup

Sugar – 1 cup (based on the taste buds)

Butter - 1/2 cup

Water –  2 1/2 cups (Instead of water, we can use Milk which brings out a very rich flovour)

Seasoning:

Raisins, cashews, cardamom

Mild colour (optional)

Method:

Heat the butter in a thick pan. When the butter melts, add the raisins and the cashews and cardamom.

When they turn golden brown in colour, reduce the flame.

In the low flame roast the sooji/semolina until the colour turns to slight brown. A nice flavour comes when we roast it.

Add sugar and mix the sugar with the roasted sooji /rava/semolina.

Add water immediately after mixing it. Keep kindling the mix until the water mixes well with the sooji/rava/semolina..

Now, increase the flame and add saffron water to the boiling sooji/rava/semolina to get a nice colour. In the mean time, we can add a little more of sugar if we want it to be sweeter.

When the consistency is semi solid or is about to be solid, switch off the flame and allow it to cool.

Once the sooji is warm, we can cut it into desired shapes like rectangle or diamond shaped ones and place them on a plate. Also, we can place cashews on the cut pieces to give a rich look.

Simple Tips:

Roasting the semolina:

• ·         It helps remove the raw flavour of the semolina
• ·         It also helps the semolina to become grainy.

Adding Sugar before water:

• ·         Helps remove the lumps formation.

The Art of Cooking!

Hello Everybody!

Cooking is an Art and I am art lover.. I have been cooking for the past 4 yrs now. I was handed over a Kitchen and ingredients to cook all of a sudden.. I did not have enough knowledge then. I dint know how to find the difference between Thoor dhal and Channa dhal.. Such was the ignorance in me then. I tried, tested a few and started experimenting and learnt recipes from so many people through their blogs and here I am today starting my own blog. :) I have also learnt a lot from my Mom and my aunts and grandmom who are all great cooks..

En Samaiyal Araiyil(my cook space) is a humble start from me, to post recipes that I have tried and also to post most of the recipes passed on to me from my Grand mom and Mom... Not only that, I also intend to post some recipe that I randomly try from cookbooks as well.. Thanks for your patience. Now on to a few recipes. You can share your experience here as well your comments are welcome!