Aloo Tikki-Chole Chaat Recipe | How to Make Aloo Tikki Chole Chaat

Learn how to make Aloo Tikki-Chole Chaat ~ A popular Indian street food of spiced potato patties served with spicy chickpeas curry and assorted sweet date-tamarind chutney and hot mint-coriander chutney and topped with finely chopped onions, tomatoes and sev

Inside a small restaurant with double glazed window you will find several posters of Bollywood stars smiling at you. There are small granite tables with pickle and chutney trays on top and matching red velvet cushioned chairs. Large framed photograph of Guru Nanak is hung just above the cashier’s desk and a small table fan is rotating gently. The aroma of food being cooked inside the kitchen is intoxicating and people are busy savouring plates of Naans, Curries, Chaats, Indian sweets and Kebabs.

Come out of the restaurant you will find women in colourful saris and salwar kameez, men wearing colourful turbans and kurtas, pavement food stalls selling Samosas, Chaats and Jalebi, small shops selling mobile phones and bright fabrics in rainbow colours hanging in shop fronts. Add to this the Bhangra music and sweet smell of incense and spices is in the air. Am I in India?!

Aam Panna Recipe | Indian Raw Mango Cooler

Learn how to make Aam ka Panna ~ Sweet and sour Indian raw mango cooler flavoured with spices, black salt and mint

It’s officially summer in my neck of woods and for the last two weeks the heatwaves have swept across the nation. I am not very active on social media these days as it will be considered sin to spend time within the four walls. The windows and doors are wide open, and I spend most of my time pottering around the garden, laying on grass and snoozing under the perfect blue skies. My morning walks have become longer as I enjoy the company of mother nature and her children like tweeting birds and wild life, walking in the woodlands under the protective canopy of giant trees. The kitchen is the last place on my mind as simple salads, quick coconut-yogurt based curries and ice creams have officially become our meals and washing them with gallons of water to quench the thirst and to keep the body cool.

It's time like this when I sift through my handwritten recipe diary in search of recipes that has been tried and tested for centuries. The recipes for scorching summer months to keep the body cool due to excess hear from the sun. One such recipe is a very popular raw mango recipe from the northern part of India called Aam Panna, a very refreshing raw mango cooler flavoured with spices and good helping of fresh mint. It is this Aam ka Panna, with its sweet tangy flavor makes it extremely rejuvenating and its health benefits make it a go to drink and a must try recipes for the summers when the mighty mango season arrives. Aam Panna is consumed in the summers as it acts as a coolant, rehydrates body and provides the essential electrolytes lost during the hot weather. A glass of this drink in a summer afternoon can combat fatigue and energize a person.

Khara Kaddi or Spicy Sev Recipe | How to Make Kharada Kaddi

Learn how to make Khara Kaddi or Spicy Sev ~ Deep fried spicy chickpea or gram flour sticks flavoured with cumin, carom seeds and asafoetida

It’s been over a fortnight since Lil Dumpling started his big school and finally, I feel I can pen down the whole experience without my heart shattering into thousand pieces or shedding truck load of tears. There was no surprise when LD started school it wasn't him who cried. It was me! The sight of that small person vanishing with unfamiliar faces into an unknown classroom was terribly painful. I couldn't understand the pain I was feeling.

Spicy Sev or Kharada Kaddi

For weeks, I had prepared LD to start his new school in a new town. I was so immersed in preparing LD for his first day in school, making the school sound like a fun place, I completely forgot to prepare myself for the day when I had to let go of him and place his small hands into the capable hands of his class teacher. I kept my mind busy making sure that the transition will be as smooth and as painless as possible. By doing so, I kept pushing every worry and thoughts of my own feelings in the back-burner. It was a lethal combination, LD’s pride, joy and excitement mixed with my whole range of worries, apprehensions and anxieties! I never imagined in million years that it would be one of the most painful experiences of my life.

Harive Soppu Bendi Recipe | How to Make Vegan Amaranth-Coconut Curry

Learn how to make Vegan Harive Soppu Bendi /Amaranth-Coconut Curry ~ Vegan green amaranth cooked in mild coconut gravy

Life in India is like living in food heaven for someone who loves fresh and local farm produce. One of the best things about living in India is availability of local and seasonal vegetables and greens in abundance without the need to travel for hundred of miles to Asian speciality stores! For someone who loves cooking and eating local produce, the early morning call from the vegetable vendors delivering the fresh vegetables and greens plucked with dew drops along with the mud and sand stuck on their skin and roots is enough to make my heart skip a beat!

Organic Tender Green Amaranth Leaves ~ Fresh from farm

Mild Amaranth-Coconut Curry

But what makes my heart sing is the fresh produce straight from our estate or from the farms of our extended families. There is no better gift than a fresh home grown, organic produce gifted by loved ones. Last time when I visited my Doddamma’s home, they sent us back with car boot full of home grown produce from their farm and backyard vegetable garden. One such produce was these tender amaranth leaves plucked straight from backyard vegetable garden. I didn’t waste time in making good use of it and made this simple coconut based curry from my native Udupi-Mangalore.

Spicy Dhania/Coriander Chutney Recipe | Simple and Easy Coriander Chutney Recipe

Learn how to make Spicy Dhania Chutney ~ Simple and easy spicy coriander chutney with aromatic spices

I have neglected this blog for a long time now. For some reason or the other, the joy of sharing recipes and need to document tidbits of my life have abandoned me. I have withdrawn into my thick, secretive shell, and the urge to remain there is keeping me away from the space which is an extension of my own life.

Ingredients for Spicy Coriander Chutney

I guess would have continued to hibernate if not for some of you who gently kicked me from my deep slumber. I am wondering if I should be thankful or just ignore and duck under the thick blanket of anonymity! :) Decisions, decisions… Thankfully it’s not a difficult one to make.

Spicy Dill Chutney/Pickle Recipe | Andhra Style Sabbasige Soppu Chutney

Learn how to make Spicy Dill Chutney/Pickle ~ Andhra styled spicy sabbasige soppu /shepu chutney with aromatic spices and jaggary

My fingers hover over the laptop’s keyboard. It’s been little over 15 minutes since I’ve been starting at the blank screen with a curser blinking on a blank page. A blank page and a blank mind! Pretty deadly combination for a blogger who is known for her rants and rambles! ~sigh~

It makes me wonder if it is the life changing event that is taking place in our life that’s making me twiddle my thumbs and raise my heart beat rate? Is it the excitement and nervousness that’s making me lose my sleep, and may be even my mind! I wanted to talk about it as there is no tomorrow, but it seems it’s not going to happen today! Hopefully the words will come to my mind and flow through my fingertips as they will tap and dance on the keyboard like those Irish dancers I saw few weeks ago. Since the words refuse to surface in my mind, I will share the recipe that I experimented few months ago and to my pleasant surprise it turned out to be one of best tasting chutneys.

No Oil Spicy Cut Mango Pickle Recipe | Step by Step Indian Mango Pickle Recipe

Learn how to make Spicy Cut Mango Pickle ~ No Oil Spicy Raw Mango Pickle Recipe

Family recipes, the recipes that have been cooked for decades and some even for centuries are the most treasured ones and close to my heart. Our taste, preference and choice change with time, but certain recipes withstand the test of time as they tie us to our roots and happy memories. Recipes like these need to be treasured, preserved and cherished for honoring the previous generations and for the new generations who are yet to sample the goodness of life!

Kashaya or Kashayam Recipe | A Herbal or Ayurvedic Drink from South India

Learn how to make Kashaya or Kashayam ~ Sweet and spicy herbal drink made using selected aromatic spices based on the ancient Indian health science of Ayurveda

I grew up in a joint family for the first 6 years of my life. When I was born, my first cousin was in his mid twenties while the youngest one was in his late teens. So it was not difficult for a chubby baby girl with jet black hair and cheeks that resembled a generous sized Idli to make every other person in our family to dance just by shaking my little fingers. I was pampered and a spoilt brat who had many people falling on my chubby feet for the first 22 months of my life. And then my exclusive control on everyone’s attention and being centre of everyone’s universe came to sudden halt!

Spicy Tomato and Garlic Thokku Recipe | How to Make Spicy Tomato and Garlic Chutney/Relish

Learn how to make Tomato and Garlic Thokku ~ Spicy tomato and garlic chutney/relish for Dosa and Idli

One thing I never thought of becoming when I donned motherhood hat among other very colourful and interesting hats I wear day to day life was getting absent minded and forgetful! Someone who could remember couple of dozens of 10-12 digit phone numbers or every family and friends’ birthdays or anniversary dates was starting to find it difficult to even remember her own cell phone number.

Achari Baingan Recipe | Eggplants with Pickling Spices

Learn how to make Achari Baingan ~
Baby eggplants cooked with aromatic pickling spices (No onion and garlic, vegan recipe)

When the cold months of winter arrive, it also brings along the desire to eat food that not just nourishing but is also comforting and warming. The focus shifts from a plate of cold salads and tall glass of chilled drinks of summer to the bowl of hot soups and spicy curries. And then there are pickles… Spicy, astringent, tart and oh-so-comfortingly-delicious pickles!!!

Low Fat Oven Roasted Potato Wedges Recipe ~ Roasted Cumin and Sea Salt Flavoued

Low Fat Oven Roasted Potato Wedges ~ Roasted Cumin Flavoued

I had major plans for Easter break! A trip to pet farm for Lil Dumpling followed by a canal side walk to show little duckies following their Mamma ducks and then visit to local library with some spring and summer wardrobe shopping thrown in! Thursday evening I left the office little early, eagerly looking forward to spend next four days with my two men outside in open air, breathing fresh air and creating new sweet memories along…

Broccoli Paratha Recipe | How to Make Simple Stuffed Parathas

Broccoli Paratha ~ Whole wheat flat breads stuffed with spicy grated broccoli

We have experienced warm to hot to cold to chilling cold weather in the past one week. And tonight, it’s going to snow heavily!!! This sudden change in weather resulted in Lil Dumpling falling ill with dry, chesty cough followed by wheezing, something I always dread whenever there is extreme change in temperature as he is still developing his immunity to fight against nasty virus and bad germs!

Pickled or Brined Raw Jackfruit Rotti Recipe | Vegan and Gluten Free Jackfruit in Brine Flat Bread

Vegan as well as gluten-free ~ Pickled or Brined Jackfruit Rotti

Yesterday I went to work, little late than usual, and sat at my desk. I was there, physically, in my office tapping the keyboard and scrutinising the lengthy program looking for the line of code that stopped the program from running smoothly, as it should be! I sat there, may be for few minutes or was it an hour, tapping my fingers on lips, something I always do when I am concentrating while my glasses slowly slipped to tip of my nose… the seconds turned to minutes, slowly creeping to hour… but I was still staring at the monitor with a deep frown. A simple task of decoding which would usually take few minutes but not this time! What was wrong?

Indian Semolina Pancakes, Raisin and Currant Chutney, and Kokum Cooler - A This-and-That Snack - A guest post by Susan @ The Well Seasoned Cook

Rava Uttapam (Semolina Pancakes with Raisin and Currant Chutney and Kokum Cooler

This lady friend of mine has very special love affair with legumes. She is the brain behind very popular and wonderful food blog event called My Legume Love Affair or MLLA which will be celebrating its third year anniversary in few weeks’ time! Yes, I am talking about the lovely lady Susan behind the very special and B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L food blog The Well Seasoned Cook (don't you love the name?!). I have known Susan for the past 3 years and I never fail to notice her eye for details which reflects through her stunning food and life photography. It is my greatest pleasure to have Susan here on Monsoon Spice as a guest blogger. Do check and participate in her yet another popular Black and White Wednesday, a culinary food photography event which challenges you to look at vibrant and colourful food in monochrome! Visit her beautiful blog, if you have not already done so, and don’t forget to follow her on Twitter.

Kembude Kai Bendhi | Pumpkin and Cashews in Coconut Gravy Recipe

Kembude Bendhi/Pumpkin and Cashews in Coconut Gravy

In our home we love spicy food. The hotter better is the slogan which we follow for most of the time when we prepare food in our beloved kitchen. A pot after pots of hot fiery food is churned every day which we enjoy cooking, eating and sharing with our friends. A tall glass of sweet or spicy Lassi (yogurt based drink) usually served with most times completes our meal.

Bharwan Mirch ka Achaar | Stuffed Red Chilli Pepper Pickle Recipe

Bharwan Mirch ka Achaar

We Indian’s LOVE our pickles. Period.

I know I should stop here but I just can’t stop leave it when the topic in question is one of my most favourite things. Given a choice, I am among those who can rant on for hours and also end up writing PhD thesis on the subject of pickles. My love for pickle is talking point among my loved ones who know my weakness for this irresistible treats. When God created me, he forgot to give me sweet tooth. Instead I was blessed with a taste bud that swirls around doing Tango when it meets its love, irresistible spicy pickle. I know that there are many people out there who are just like me, who love pickles more than any sweet desserts and delights.

Thai Yellow Curry: Sunshine in Bowl to Lift Your Spirit...

Thai Yellow Curry

“How do they taste? They taste like more.”
-H.L. Mencken

And that’s exactly how I feel when ever I am served real good Thai food. I like everything about Thai cuisine; the ingredients used, its flavour, the way it’s cooked, the fresh herbs and aromatic spices and above all the way it tastes. And another reason for my love affair with Thai food is the use of coconut in most of the recipes. A typical Mangalorean girl that I am, my heart skips a beat and makes me do cartwheels in air whenever I find this favourite ingredient of mine in any recipe.

Since the day we have had come back from our India trip, we haven’t been cooking anything elaborate in our tiny kitchen. Although we would like to blame our mothers for spoiling us by not letting us cook in their kitchen, it was plain laziness that has kept us away from pots and pans. All these days we have been satisfying ourselves with soups and breads and simple dal/rasam and rice. But it didn’t take much longer for stomachs to start grumbling for something exotic and our taste buds to crave for something packed with flavours.

It’s not easy to tackle the situation when you are faced with laziness and desire to eat something delicious. And to add to our misery we stumbled upon some really delicious looking Thai Curries on one of the cookery shows. Did we have any choice left? Na…da… So it was decided on simple Thai menu for the day and of course for the blog also ;)

With typical cold and grey winter days and sun god gone missing for days together we were left with no choice but to create this sunshine in a bowl to lift our mood and spirit. We chose to cook this delicious bowl of Thai Yellow Curry and served it with fragrant Thai Jasmine Rice which resembled the snow flakes that had turned our neck of woods into snow kingdom. The colourful and delightful vegetables cooked in creamy and sweet coconut milk and flavoursome curry paste made using freshest of herbs and spices is sure to bowled any foodie’s heart and soul. Thai Yellow Curry is my entry for AWED-Thai event hosted by dear DK at Culinary Bazaar.

Thai Yellow Curry

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Thai Yellow Curry Paste

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 2 mins for roasting the spices
Makes: 1 big Cup
Shelf Life: 1 month when refrigerated or 1 day if kept outside
Recipe Source: Real Vegetarian Thai by Nancie McDermott
Recipe Level: Easy
Spice Level: Medium

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Ingredients:
1 medium Onion, peeled and quartered
8-10 finger length Dry Red Chillies, soaked in warm water for 20 mins
1½ inch Ginger or Galangal
1 cup Coriander Leaves, including its root and stems
4-6 Large Garlic Flakes
1 tbsp Lemongrass Paste or 3 stalks of Lemongrass, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
½ tbsp Brown Sugar
1 tbsp Curry Powder (I used Kitchen King Powder)
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
2 tbsp Lime Juice
1 tsp Salt

Spices to Roast and Ground to Powder:
1½ tbsp Coriander Seeds
½ tbsp Cumin Seeds
10 Black or White Pepper Corns

Thai Yellow Curry Paste

Method:

Heat a pan and dry roast coriander seeds, cumin seeds and pepper on slow flame till they change colour and are aromatic, about 2 minutes. Transfer them to clean bowl and let them cool completely. With a help of coffee grinder or mortar and pestle grind them to fine powder.
Add this powder to all the ingredients listed above and grind them to smooth paste adding little water at time. Make sure that you add water only when it is required to get fairly thick and smooth paste.
You can store this paste in an air tight container and refrigerate for upto one month and use as and when needed.

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Veg Thai Yellow Curry

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Serves: 4-6
Recipe Source: Real Vegetarian Thai by Nancie McDermott
Recipe Level: Easy/Beginner to Intermediary
Spice Level: Medium
Serving Suggestion: With Jasmine Rice or Basmati Rice

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Ingredients:
5-6 cups of Mixed Vegetables of your choice cut into bite size pieces (I have used half each of Red/Yellow/Orange Peppers, 1 medium Potato, 1 medium Carrot, 5 Baby Corns, Few French Beans, 5 Button Mushrooms, and Green Peas)
1 medium Onion or 4 Spring Onions, thinly sliced
1 can Coconut Milk or 2-3 cups of Coconut Milk
2-3 cups of Vegetable Stock or Water
2-3 tbsp Yellow Curry Paste
2 Kaffir Lime Leaves, thinly cut
1-2 tsp Brown Sugar
1 tbsp Soya Sauce
Coriander leaves of Spring Onion Greens for garnishing
Salt to taste

Thai Yellow Curry

Method:

Heat a heavy bottomed pan and empty 1/3rd of Coconut milk in a pan. Stir this coconut milk on medium heat till its sweet fragrance is released and starts to thicken, about 4-5 minutes, in a medium flame.
Now add 2-3 tbsp of Yellow Curry Paste and stir well. Keep stirring for 2-3 minutes till the curry paste blends well with the coconut milk and its raw smell disappears. Add the vegetables and spring onions to it and mix them well so that each piece is coated with coconut and curry paste mixture.
Mix in vegetable stock or water, remaining coconut milk, Soya sauce, kaffir lime leaves if using, brown sugar and salt to taste. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.
Open the lid and adjust the seasonings. Simmer the heat and let it cook uncovered for another 5 minutes till the vegetables are cooked to tender. Make sure that the vegetables are not overcooked and retain their crunch.
Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and greens of spring onion and serve with aromatic bowl of Jasmine Rice and enjoy.

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Notes:

Other Thai recipes blogged so far,

• Jasmine Rice Soup with Mushrooms, Green Onions & Crispy Garlic
• Tome Yum Soup with Mushroom & Tofu
• Thai Jasmine Rice
• Veg Thai Red Curry
• Veg & Tofu Thai Green Curry
  

Baby Brinjal Masala Palya: Simply Delicious

Baby Brinjal Masala Palya

What happens when someone hosts 3 blog events back to back, creating a hatrick!!!
She checks her mail box religiously every morning as soon as she gets up only to realise it’s all over… At last!!!

Not that I have had any second thoughts about hosting the events. In fact I loved being a gracious, ahem, hostess and making sure all my guests were enjoying the party. Well, they were the best parties I have ever hosted, I think! But in the end I did have this small voice in my head shouting I might have over done it this time. I kind of mixed up with the dates and committed myself to host events before I could realise I was about to host three much loved blog events back to back. With ever increasing workload with two new and very important projects to work on, I was literally walking on a tight rope balancing work on my left hand, home on right hand and blog events on my head ;) So no more parties for few more months but you are very welcome to come here and have some home food :)

Talking of home food, I have been cooking some simple foods these days. Not many ingredients and no complex techniques. I have been experimenting with few spices, tweaking here and there till I am satisfied with the end result. One such recipe is Stir Fried Baby Green Brinjals or Baby Geen Brinjal Masala Palya. Recent trip to down south, I bought few lovely green baby brinjals which are otherwise not available in my neck of woods. The speciality of these brinjals is that they have thin lovely green skin with lots of seeds within. They take very little time to cook compared to the purple baby eggplants and taste oh-so-wonderful. I didn’t want them to over cook so the option of stuffing them was out of the window. After thinking for a while I opted to slice them and stir fry with just few spices which would bring out the flavour of these green beauties.

The recipe is inspired by recent post of Dondakaya Vepudu but with my own twist. I have used same ingredients for the spice blend but also added few other ingredients to give it little smoky and complex flavours. Addition to cumin, dry red chillies and roasted peanuts, I also added garlic, tamarind and little jaggery. The result was simply delicious where I ended up eating half the content right from the pan. The pungent garlic, sweet jaggery, sour tamarind and smoky dry red chillies were pure pleasure to be experienced. And the best part was hubby dear is allergic to eggplants, so I had it all for myself;) You can try same spice blend with other vegetables like Ivy Gourd/Tindora or even purple eggplants and I am sure it will taste equally good.

Baby Brinjals

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Green Brinjal Masala Palya (Baby Green Brinjal/Eggplants stir fried with roasted spices)
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Serves: 3-4

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Ingredients:
6-8 Baby Green Brinjals, washed and towel dried
2-3 Garlic Flakes, finely sliced
½ tsp Turmeric Powder
Salt to taste

For Tempering/Tadka:
1-1½ tbsp Oil
½ tsp Mustard Seeds
¾ tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
½ tbsp Channa Dal/Split Bengal Gram
½ tbsp Urad Dal/Split Black Gram
2 Dry Red Chillies
Big pinch of Hing/Asafoetida
Few Curry Leaves

To be Roasted & Ground to Fine Powder:
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
5-6 Dry Red Chillies, stems removed and halved (Adjust acc to taste. I used Byadagi Chillies)
2 cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
1½ -2 tbsp Roasted Peanuts, skins removed or leave it as it is
1 small marble sized Tamarind Pulp/½ tsp Tamarind Paste
1 tsp Jaggery/Brown sugar

Baby Brinjal Masala Palya

Method:

Remove the stems of baby brinjals and cut it vertically in the middle. Slice each halves into 1 cm slices. Place the sliced brinjals in a vessel filled with cold water till required. Immersing brinjals in cold water helps in preventing discolouration.
To make spice powder, heat few drops of oil in a pan and add cumin seeds, halved chilles and finely chopped garlic. Roast them in low heat for a minute till garlic turns light brown and cumin seeds too turn light brown. Let it cool down a bit before you proceed to next step.
Place them in a mixer along with roasted peanuts, tamarind pulp and jaggery and grind into fine powder without adding any water. Keep this aside till needed.
Heat oil in a same pan and add channa dal, urad dal, mustard, dry red chillies and hing. Sauté it on medium flame till mustard starts to pop and splutter.
Now add cumin seeds, sliced garlic and curry leaves and sauté till cumin, dal and garlic turns light golden brown.
Drain water from sliced brinjal pieces and add them to the pan. Increase the heat and stir fry them continously for about 5 mins. Add turmeric powder and salt to taste and give it a good stir for another 5 mins.
Mix spice blend and stir fry for another 3-5 mins till all the flavours blend well and brinjal pieces are cooked to tender.
Serve this delicious stir fry with steaming bowl of Rice/Chapatti and Rasam/Dal/Plain Yogurt and enjoy.

Jeera(Cumin) Rice

Jeera is the second most important spice in Indian cuisine (after coriander). It was first cultivated in Ancient Egypt and the Romans used it as we use pepper.
In Indian cuisine, cumin is an important ingredient in most curries, pilau rice and certain breads. When mixed with ground coriander, it forms the basis of most curry powders and masalas. Cumin is a spice that can be used whole just as it can be used ground and often a mixture of both forms is required in several recipes. The seeds are also used in snacks and appetisers and when dry roasted, cumin is an essential flavouring in the Gujarati drink lassi.

Here is the simple recipe to cook Jeera Rice. I often prepare it with some curry as side dish.

Jeera Rice served with Mushroom Masala

Ingredients:
2 Cups Basmati Rice
2 Tbsp Ghee
1½ Tbsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
½ Cup Milk (optional)
1 inch Cinnamon Stick
3 Cloves
3 Green Cardamom
1 Bay Leaf
Salt to taste

Jeera Rice

Method:
Soak rice in water for half an hour and drain.
Heat ghee in pressure cooker and add cinnamon stick, bay leaf, cloves and green cardamom and saute it for a minute. Add jeera or cumin seeds to the spices.
Fry till jeera starts sizzle and then add washed rice.
Fry rice for about 2-3 minutes till it’s covered with ghee.
Add salt, milk and 3 and half cups of water and mix well.
Close the lid and pressure cook rice for about 10-15 minutes.
Serve hot jeera rice with any curry of your choice.

Jeera Rice

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Did you know?
Cumin is said to keep lovers faithful and was often used in love potions. It has been used as a condiment in England since the 13th century and was a taxable import into London from 1419. It has also been used by Ayurvedic practitioners.

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