Friday, 14 August 2009

Aloo Lobia & A Quick Note on RCI

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Aloo Lobia

No rants, no ramblings, and none of my usual long posts today. All I want to share today is a quick recipe I created over the weekend.

Before I do that there is one more thing I want to mention quickly. It’s regarding RCI round-up. My initial plan was to post the round-up in first week of August. But due to heavy workload and some personal workload I haven’t had any time to sit and work on it. So my sincere apologies for the delay and I am hoping to post the round up in a week or two. Please bear with me this time! With over 80 entries, this edition of RCI-Udupi & Mangalore is going to be one bumper bonanza and I want to do full justice to it.

And now coming back to today’s recipe of Aloo Lobia, this recipe is something I came up during one busy weekend (yeah, even weekends are busy these days). I wanted to cook something good and comfort food as I was craving for some carbs by the end of the day after working non-stop. At that same time I didn’t want to spend more than 5 mins in front of a stove. One quick thinking and pairing black eyed peas and potato seemed like a good combination. And voila, it was better than good! An aromatic Tadka of cumin and curry leaves followed by cooking sweet onions and then a can of chopped tomatoes didn’t take more than few mins. By the time the ground spices were added and cooked along tomatoes, I was ready with cubed potatoes and rinsed black eyed peas. I literally dumped everything in a pressure cooker and left it cook on medium flame. While I stretched my feet with my favourite novel, the aroma of Aloo Lobia curry tickled my nose and then my stomach was giving all the signals for a delicious meal to look forward to. And it indeed turned out to be one delicious meal where I enjoyed this creamy Aloo Lobia with frozen chapattis and Krish enjoyed with Jeera Rice.

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Black Eyed Peas, Potatoes & Tomatoes for Aloo Lobia


Aloo Lobia (Spicy Potatoes and Black Eyed Peas Curry)
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cooking Time: 20-30 mins
Serves: 4-6
Recipe Level: Easy/Beginner
Spice Level: Medium
Serving Suggestion: With any Indian flat breads or flavoured/steam cooked rice

Ingredients:
3 medium Potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
¾-1 cup Lobia/Black Eyed Peas/Alasande KaLu, washed and soaked in water till needed
1 large Onion, finely chopped
3 large/1 can Tomato, chopped
1 tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
1-2 Green Chillies, slit
1 tsp Tamarind Paste
½-1 tbsp Jaggery/Palm Sugar (Adjust acc to taste)
Salt to taste

Spices Used:
1 tbsp Sambar/Rasam Powder or use 1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp each Coriander & Cumin Powders
½ tsp Haldi/Turmeric Powder

For Tadka/Tempering:
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
2 springs Curry Leaves
A big pinch of Hing/Asafoetida
1 tbsp Oil

Special Utensils:
A Pressure Cooker

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Aloo Lobia

Method:
Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add cumin seeds. When cumin starts to sizzle and turn golden red, add hing and curry leaves. Sauté it for few seconds.
Add finely chopped onions and cook till they turn translucent, about 2 minutes. Add ginger-garlic paste and green chillies and fry for a minute.
Mix in chopped tomatoes or canned tomatoes and cook till they are pulpy and release their juice, about 3 minutes.
Add all the spice powders (sambar/rasam powder, coriander and cumin powder and turmeric powder) along with tamarind paste, jaggery and salt to taste and mix well. Cook on medium heat for a minute.
Now add 3-4 cups of boiling water and bring the whole mixture to gentle boil, about 3 minutes.
Mix in cubed potatoes and soaked black eyed peas and cover the lid. Place the weight on lid and cook for 2-3 whistles or 12-15 minutes on medium flame. Let the pressure be released completely before opening the lid.
Serve this delicious Aloo Lobia with any Indian flat bread or flavoured/steam cooked rice and enjoy!

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Thursday, 6 August 2009

Quick Onion & Capsicum/Pepper Subji: Quick, Simple, Delicious & Healthy too!!!

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Quick Onion & Capsicum Subji

Quick – tick.
Simple – tick.
Delicious – tick.
Healthy – tick.

Wondering what am I talking about?

Recipe, of course! These days whenever I cook I go through these four pointers. I am looking for the recipes which quick to cook so that it saves lot of my time in doing rather something more important. And it should also be rather simple as I am trying to use very little ingredients so that the taste of main ingredient or the star ingredient is not chocked to death by hundreds of other ingredients and spices. Since I believe you can cook tasty and delicious food in spite of the recipe being quick and simple one I look out for those recipes that sound promising to produce the same result. Last but not the least, the health factor and I am, well, very conscious about it and try to make sure that the ingredients retains its nutrition and are not overly cooked all the time.

So when my dear friend Alka posted recipe of Quick Onion & Capsicum Subji on our group blog Beyond Curries, I knew I had to cook and taste!!! This recipe of Quick Onion & Capsicum Subji uses few ingredients and could be prepared in flat 15 minutes time. And it’s not only delicious but also healthy as it is a quick stir fry and not overly cooked for hours making it loose all its nutrition. And the bonus is its pretty to look at :) Who in their right mind can ignore this blissful delight! Well, not me ;) So dear readers please give this quick stir fry a try and let me know if you think the same. While you are enjoying this quick capsicum recipe, take a look at my post on pearly delight of Sagu/Sabudana Kichidi at Beyond Curries :)

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Coloured Bell Peppers for Quick Onion & Capsicum Subji


Quick Onion & Capsicum Subji (Quick stir fry of Bell Peppers and Onion)
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cooking Time: 10-12 mins
Serves: 4-5
Recipe Level: Easy/Beginner
Spice Level: Low to Medium
Serving Suggestion: With Chapatti or Rice and Dal
Recipe Inspiration: Beyond Curries

Ingredients:
3 Capsicums/Bell Peppers, cut into 1 inch squares
1 large Onion, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 medium Tomatoes, finely chopped
2 Green Chillies, slit
½-1 tsp Garam Masala/Kitchen King Masala
1 tsp Coriander Powder
A pinch of Haldi/Turmeric Powder
A pinch of Sugar
Salt to taste

For Tadka:
1 tsp Jeera
½ tbsp Oil

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Quick Onion & Capsicum Subji

Method:
Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds to it. When cumin sizzles and turns golden red in colour.
Mix in chopped onions and green chillies and sauté till onion turn light golden in colour.
Add chopped tomatoes, coriander powder, turmeric, sugar and garam masala/kitchen king masala and cook for 3-5 minutes till tomatoes are cooked through.
Add chopped capsicums/bell peppers and sauté for 4-6 minutes so that it is lightly cooked yet retains its crunch.
Switch off the gas and mix in finely chopped coriander leaves. Serve this Quick Onion & Capsicum Subji with Chapatti or rice and enjoy!

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Wednesday, 5 August 2009

Work-In-Progress!

Work-in-progress!!!! Will be back soon... Meanwhile take a look at pearly delight of Sagu/Sabudana Kichidi at Beyond Curries :)


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