Salads! Salads! And More Salads!

Every time I FaceTime with you, It feels great to know that you make your own delicious salads and eat them on regular basis. The crunchy sound I sometimes hear from your pretty mouth, when you are chewing those leafy veggies while talking to me, is just awesome to hear! I also love to see those broccolis, lettuce, beans, tomatoes etc that you gobble up and sometimes also show me! 

So in the last few months, I collected pics and recipes of some interesting salads, which I made at home ( with the aim to balance my diet) and also to check out whether I can survive on salads only for dinner/lunch or not. This I started last year only after you left! It has also helped me experience how YOU must be feeling and enjoying your salads!

Mostly the salads I tried were made of lot of greens like beans, brocolli, capsicum, spinach, cucumber, spring onions, green chilies and a bit of red veggies like carrots, tomatoes. The veggies except ( cucumber and tomato) were mostly blanched or sauted in a bit of extra virgin oil. And yes...I also add soya nuggets by the way!!! ( Will skip the non veg bits here sweety)Thereafter I added a dash of seasoning, maybe thosand island dressing or Italian dressing, just to give that flavour and smoothness. I also have oregano, and garlic chilli flakes which add a zing to every salad I have made. sprinkled with salt to taste, sometimes cilantro leaves, and sometimes a dash of tomato ketchup...whoaa..the salads are ready to eat!!!

Sometimes, to make it a bit more filling meal type, I have added a small bowl of boiled pasta...that makes the salad a full blown meal..which definitely is good enough for your lunch!

I know you yourself are an expert now, in churning up delish salads...but here are a few images from my side!!

Mangoes in Cardiff!!!

Mangoes Mangoes...be the Aam Girl!

I am sure Cardiff would have atleast ONE shop selling the good ol' mangoes! And I know how muchhh you love them ;)
Well to begin with, the way you stuff your tiny fridge with salads, how about putting a couple of red, juicy mangoes in it too..and besides eating it raw, with juice ticking your mouth...how about chopped mangoes...with a blob of icecream?
or even if you don't have a mixer...you can crush the mangoes...and mix it in a bowl of yoghurt!!!

How about a mango salad? You love your fresh crispy salad...so just chop all your crispy, crackling veggies...like carrots..lettuce...tomatoes...and chop the magoes...sprinkle chopped mint leaves...add a dash of lime juice...sprinkle dash of salt and pepper...and here you go...a sweet and salty mango salad for you!
 If you can catch hold of green raw mangoes...its muchhhhhhh better!!!!

Ways Of Making Good Old Potatoes Indian Style

I know potato in any form is your favorite, be it the good old French fries, the alu Bhujia, the alu matar  or the alu paratha or alu sandwich . But when choosing how to make your potato dishes interesting, you need to see exactly what all you have at home. For a simple quick alu on toast, or with dal chawal or with a bun, you can always have mashed potatoes with a dash of salt, pepper and butter/ cheese in it if you don't want to season it more. But if you want to have that spicy " chokha" ( bharta) with your rice and daal, then you got to season with a bit of jeera and red or green chilies. Adding raw garlic or green coriander would make it yummy too!

Now a few good recipes for your " Alu"!
Spicy Baby Potatoes- this is one dish I tried when I had got our microwave. You just wash the potatoes with the jackets, and prick them with a fork to make holes. Rub some spices like garam masala, salt, red chilli powder or amchoor and a bit of oil on the potatoes, and microwave for 8 minutes. Delicious roasted, crispy potatoes will be ready to eat with a toast or two.

If you can boil potatoes then couple of interesting quick dishes can be made.

Alu Matar- one of the most simple dishes of India, where you hardly need anything much. Just boiled baby potatoes cut in halves,or big potatoes chopped in medium size pieces, a bowl of peas, one tomato chopped, one small onion chopped, 2-3 green chillies, sliced, and some salt, turmeric, jeera and garam masala. In a pan, add a bit of olive or any refine oil. When it's hot, add the jeera and green chillies. On spluttering, just add the onions and sauté for a minute. Add the boiled potatoes and tomatoes together and sauté and cover on lowered flame, or temperature on your induction plate. Add the peas and cover for another 5 minutes till they look soft.After 2-3 mins you will see the tomatoes,
onions and potatoes all become slightly pinkish with the juices of tomatoes. You can now add the salt, turmeric ( just 1/4 tsp), garam masala and again sauté and cover. The juices of the tomatoes and onions will make the alu matar all " soft and latpat"! Now the time is to add the salt and spices! After that stir it and cover for just 2 minutes. If you want a slight gravy, add half a cup of water and simmer, till the gravy thickens. If you want it just the " latpat" style, then your alu matar is all ready to be eaten with parathas, bread, rolls, or rice dal.

Alu Tikkis- The one you love so much! For that crispy, tasty alu Tikkis, you need 3-4 boiled potatoes, mashed properly, a bit of chopped onions, grated garlic, ginger and green chillies , two fresh bread pieces crushed into crumbs,freshly ground masalas ( this is something that is home made, where you roughly roasted and blend red chilli, jeera, pepper corns, or even panch foran, if possible cinnamon) this spice mix will have its own unique flavor and can be ground and stored. Now heat a bit of oil, and sauté the chopped spices, when it turns slightly golden, add mashed potatoes, salt and ground spices. Stir for a minute and shut the flame. Now add the bread crumbs and mix well and roll small balls and flatten into Tikkis or patties. Shallow fry on your pan with 1 tsp olive oil. They should turn golden and crisp. Now eat it with your brown bread/ rolls with a dash of tangy tomato sauce.

Delicious Daals...Simple to cook..

Most Indians relish their Daals or Lentil curries in a big way! Surprisingly, the way water and language change with every five miles in India..so does tastes and flavours of food, even if ingredients might be same or similar. As You love your 'Daal' in its simplicity or complexity, I propose to give you recipes of all your daals, which you can make in a jiffy, in that pressure cooker of yours!
The healthiest and purest daal is the 'Masoor'.

The easiest recipe for a delicious masoor Ki Daal is to take 1/2 cup/katori of dal, washed, add 2.5 cups of water, salt and 1/4 tsp turmeric powder and pressure cook. Variation is to add chopped tomatoes, if you want a thick tangy daal. The masoor dal can be seasoned with 'rai' in a bit of ghee or 'mustard oil' with red or green chillies, or can be eaten with just a teaspoon of hot spluttering ghee. As you love eating hot steamy rice with plain masoor dal, you can always add washed and scrubbed potatoes in the daal, to boil it together with the daal! Thats called killing two birds with one stone :) Now you can enjoy rice, daal and boiled potatoes or chokha!!!!

Tips for an Indian Foodie Kid Abroad

When we are on home turf, we take the daily bread and butter, the daal-chaval, the roti-paratha quite for granted. We only realise the 'beauty' and the 'necessity' of the 'home food' when we suddenly are deprived of it. In my case, it has not YET happened. But as my little...errr...I mean 'BIG' girl goes to UK, to a place called Pontipridd ( yes it does remind of Ponti Chaddha), I get an unusual request ( read demand) from the same girl...' Mumma, please write me all your recipes...especially the ones typically Indian...or rather Bihari). As they say, 'Harry' will always remain a 'Harry!!

So I decided to create a blog for my daughter, Anjari, of delicious, simple recipes from her "home turf", with a lot of tips and 'tippani' which I hope will come handy to her.

The first TIP comes here!
The moment you have your own kitchen which you are able to manage, there are a few things that are "must haves" there.
1. The 'Oh So IMP' pressure Cooker. This will be helpful to make that fluffy rice, boil those cuddly potatoes( cuddly like you) and also make those delicious 'daals'. besides that you can make any and every type of "vegetable' stews and curries in the cooker.
2. A Few Masalas are a must. If you want to relish all 'Hindustani cuisine' in its true flavour, PLEASE have a packet of turmeric, red chilli and garam masala powder. rest can go outta wind! But if you wanna go in the detailing...buy some amchoor, dhania, and some seeds like jeera, sarso, and tejpatta. You can even chuck all this too...
3. OIL. Although lately I've learnt the art of using extra virgin oil, and sunflower oil, or rice bran oil...I will give one tip. If you want to have that "Bihari" zing to your "Alu Bhujia" or " Masoor daal" buy a can of mustard oil. A small can of Ghee too will be helpful later for pullao or anything that you start experimenting, once you are a real homebody!

So for the first lesson...these three tips!

Now for the FIRST RECIPE OF THE DAY!!!

ALU BHUJIA

Ingredients:
Finely sliced potatoes with jackets ( chhilka), washed thoroughly
1/2 Tsp Paanch Foran
1.5 Tblsp Ginger garlic Paste
3-4 Tblsp Mustard Oil
1/2 Tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/4 Tsp Turmeric Powder
Salt To Taste

Process:-
In a deep bottomed pan/wok, heat mustard oil to smoking point, add the panch foran, once it splutters, put the sliced potatoes, and stir once, immediately sprinkle ginger garlic paste and stir again. Now add remaining spices, except salt and stir well and lower the flame a bit. Keep stirring after every 2 minutes, spreading the bhujia evenly around the wok, so that they get crispy-soft. In the end, when its shrunk, add salt to taste and stir again. Once the bhujia turns golden brown, slightly crispy ( you can have it soft, if you want, for that cover the pan, the steam will make it soft), and looks cooked, shut the stove and cook the bhujia. Eat with "hot steamed rice", "daal" or with paratha...or even with bread!