Potato Gravy

Potatoes are my favorite comfort food.  I add them to almost every vegetable I make. They are said to be high in carbohydrate and not so recommended by dieters. However, if eaten in healthy form, they are good source of Vitamins, Potassium, Copper and Dietary Fiber.

Here is a simple potato recipe which is quite popular in my kitchen.

 

Ingredients:

4 Medium Size Potato:  Boiled, Peeled and cut in to cubes

2 Medium Size Tomato: Chopped finely

1 Medium Size Red Onion:  Chopped finely

Ginger Garlic Paste: 1 table spoon

Cumin Powder: 1/2 table spoon

 

Cumin Seeds: 1/4 table spoon

Cilantro to garnish

Shredded Ginger (Optional)

Pinch of Turmeric

Cooking oil- 4 table spoon

Method: 

Heat oil in a cooking pan, crack some cumin seeds and add onion.  After onion turns soft and light brown, add ginger garlic paste, turmeric, salt, cumin powder and cook in medium heat for 1-2 minute. Then, add tomato and cook until it turns in to gravy and oil start to separate. After that, add potatoes in to the gravy and mix it well.  Let it cook on medium heat for 4-5 minutes, stir occasionally so that paste doesn’t coat on bottom of the pan.   

                      

                     

 

You can add small amount of shredded ginger if you love the taste of raw ginger but it’s optional. Turn off the heat and garnish with cilantro. Serve it warm as a side dish or with rice/naan.

C-MoMo ( Dumplings in Spicy Sauce)

This is a dish made with leftover MoMo. Now, how to make MoMo is something I assume you know. There are plenty of good recipes online if you do not know. I will sometime post my own recipe for vegetable MoMo when I get a chance. For this particular dish, you can also use store bought dumplings. Usually, when I make MoMo for dinner, I make some extra to prepare C- MoMo for lunch the next day.

Ingredients:

Momo- 12 pieces

1 medium size Carrot- diced in to slices

Red Bell Pepper- half a piece diced into slices

Green Bell Pepper- half a piece diced into slices

Red Onion- half diced in to slices

2 Green Onions

3 table spoons of Soy Sauce

Garlic- 2 cloves finely sliced

1 large Roma Tomato- diced into slices

½ table spoon of Chili Sauce

1 table spoon of Ketchup

Oil for cooking

Cilantro

 

Method:

Heat a table spoon of oil in a pan and fry MoMos until they are crispy on one side.  Let it cool down.

Heat 2 table spoon of oil in a pan, fry garlic but don’t let it turn brown otherwise it will taste bitter. Add onion, carrot, bell peppers and green onion, sauté for a minute.  Add diced tomato, soy sauce and sauté for another 2-3 minutes (Vegetables should be sautéd lightly and should not be over cooked otherwise the dish won’t taste good).  Then, add MoMo, Chili sauce, Ketchup and stir well so that sauce is coated nicely on the MoMo.

 

Taste for salt, add as needed. Turn off the heat, sprinkle some cilantro and serve it hot. Enjoy the spicy MoMo for lunch.

Eggplant Potato Curry

I wasn’t a big fan of Eggplant before.  Once I started exploring about it and learned ways to cook, I started liking it.  Nutrition wise, it is rich in dietary fiber, vitamin K, potassium, manganese and other minerals. This was one of the reasons for me to get inclined to this vegetable.I tried many recipes and this simple and easy to make eggplant potato curry turned out very delicious.

Ingredients:

Eggplant: 1 medium size

Potato: 2 medium size

Red Onion: ½ cup finely chopped

Tomato: ½ cup chopped

Cooking Oil: 4 tea spoon

Mustard and fenugreek seeds: few

 ½ tea spoon Ginger Garlic Paste,

½ tea spoon Cumin and Coriander Powder

Pinch of Turmeric Powder

Pinch of Chilli Powder or 1 green chilli (optional)

Cilantro

Salt to taste

Method:

Cut  eggplant and potato in small size cubes and put a side.  

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard and fenugreek seeds. When they start to crack, add onion and sauté until it turns light brown.  Then add turmeric powder, ginger garlic paste and cumin coriander powder and sauté in medium heat. After oil starts to separate, add tomato, eggplant and potato and stir until the spices are coated well. 

Add a cup of water, salt to taste, and chili powder. Stir well, cover it and cook in low heat for 10 minutes until eggplant is soft and looks creamy. Add cilantro and enjoy it with rice or roti.

Baklava

Baklava is a Middle-Eastern dessert. I was introduced to it by one of my coworker in a Meditarion Café. After having a bite of it, I instantly fell in love with it. I have been entertaining myself with a bite of this soothing and rich desert time to time but never had a chance to make it at home. Yesterday I had a chance to make it. Although it was my first attempt, it came really good. It is easy to make and you can modify syrup a little for yourself. For syrup I replaced few spoons of sugar (you can even use brown sugar instead of regular sugar) with honey and used less butter. The taste was not different than the regular ones found in restaurants.

Preparation Time: Maximum 45 minutes

Ingredients:
Fillo Dough (you can buy it in any grocery store at frozen section)
(I used half of the fillo dough for this recipe and made 16 pieces)
Butter: 1 Stick (7 table spoons melted and ready to use)
Toasted Chopped Nuts (I used almonds and pecan)
For Syrup:
1 Cup water
½ Cup Brown Sugar
¼ Cup Honey (some people don’t like the taste of honey, so it’s optional. you can only use sugar)
1 table spoon of Lime /Lemon Juice
Lemon Zest (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease the bottom and sides of a baking pan with a pastry brush.
Open the package of fillo dough and stack sheets on a plain surface. Trim sides to fit into baking tray. My tray was big enough to fit the sheets so I didn’t trim.  Cover the fillo sheets with dampened towel as it can dry very fast and if it dries, there is no way you can use it. I would suggest not opening the dough until you are ready to make it.

Put a fillo sheet in a baking pan and brush with melted butter.  Repeat the process  once more for a total of six fillo sheets.  Sprinkle nuts over the top of the 6th fillo sheet. Cover the filling with two or three fillo sheets brushing each with butter.  Sprinkle the nuts again and cover it with three fillo sheets. you can put as many layers of nuts as you want. Place six more fillo sheets brushing each with butter and stacking one after another.  Brush the top layer with butter and it’s ready to bake. Before baking, cut it into small square pieces or any sizes you want (it is very hard to cut it afterward as it will crumble and be messy).
Bake it for 15-20 minutes or until it is golden brown.

Syrup:

Mix Sugar, water, honey, lemon juice and lemon zest in a saucepan, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes in low heat and let it cool down to room temperature.
When the baklava is golden brown, turn off the oven and take it out and let it cool for 10 minutes. Pour the syrup over each baklava slowly.  Once the syrup is absorbed, it is ready to serve. Usually baklava is served at room temperature but you can put it in refrigerator and chill it as well.

Baklava: ready to eat !

Kheer (Rice Pudding)

This is one of the easiest desserts to make.  You cook rice and milk on a slow heat to make this creamy dish.  People make it in different way in different places.  You can fry rice and nuts in butter and put it later in the boiling milk. Even, you can use condense milk to make it sweeter and thick.

The recipe I have today is a simple one, easy to make. 

Ingredients

Whole Milk: 6 cups

Basmati Rice: 1/4^th cup (Soak for 1-2 hours and drain): you can use long grain, Jasmine or any type of rice you like

2-3 Cardamom Seeds (crushed)

3 tbsp of Cashew nuts chopped (optional)

 (You can also put raisins or any nuts of your choice)

Sugar: 1 cup

Directions:

Put milk on a deep thick pan and bring to boil.  Add rice, reduce heat (medium), and cook in slow heat for 30-35 minutes. In the mean time, keep stirring frequently   to prevent rice from sticking at the bottom. Add sugar, nuts and cardamoms after the milk thickens and look creamy.  Cook for another 5 minutes stirring it constantly.  Remove the Kheer from heat and let it cool down. You can serve it chilled or at room temperature. Enjoy!!