Palak Kadi (Spinach in Yogurt base gravy)

Kadi is different than curry. The Kadi which I'm talking about today is basically yogurt based punjabi kadi, made using chickpea flour. Regular combination is with pakoras, which is absolute favorite of mine. Where as Curry is a term mainly used for any kind of dish which is gravy based and can have many versions of it, like tomato based, onion & tomato based, coconut based. To get the perfect flavors of punjabi kadi you need sour yogurt/home made dahi, even buttermilk will also do. It's perfect way to turn sour yogurt to tasty dish. So if you have 2-3 days old dahi, it's perfect for kadi or otherwise I prefer to leave it out of the fridge overnight at some warm place  and next day cook it into kadi.

What U need :

• 2 cups of sour dahi / buttermilk / plain yoghurt (in case of yoghurt dilute it using 1/2 cup of water)
• 4 Tblsp. of chickpea flour (beasn)
• 1 big bunch of spinach washed & chopped
• 1 tsp. black mustard ( rai) seeds
• 1 tsp. cumin (jeera)
• 2-3 cloves (laung)
• 2 whole dry red chillies
• 1 Tblsp. chopped garlic
• 1 Tblsp. chopped ginger
• 3-4 green hot peppers chopped
• 1tsp. tumeric (haldi) powder
• 1 tsp. coriander (dhania) powder
• 1 tsp. degi mirch / paprika

What to do :

1. Whisk the yogurt, add chickpea flour and all dry spices to it & whisk it to remove all the lumps. Keep it aside.
2. Heat little oil in a heavy bottom karahi/wok. Add mustard seeds, cumin, whole red chillies, cloves and let them splutter a bit.
3. Add garlic, ginger and sprinkle some salt on it, to prevent ginger from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
4. Add the yogurt mixture to the pan.
5. Add around 4 cups of water. Once the whole mixture starts to boil turn the gas to the setting( med. high works for me) where it will still boil but won't overflow. 
6. Let it cook for approximately 30 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Add spinach and let it cook for another 20 minute or so. Also adjust the consistency of the kadi, add more water if it's getting too thick or let it boil bit more if it's too thin. 
7. Once cooked, kadi tends to get thicker keep that in mind while adjusting the consistency.
8. Classic combo is with rice but you can always serve it with naan/ roti.

If the yogurt / dahi was sour you will get the perfect sour kadi. The recipe above is missing pakoras and some whole spices in it which are normally used when punjabi pakora wali kari is made, as my kids don't like Kadi with whole lot of whole spices in it. I will post the punjabi kari with pakoras whenever I make next time, this is little litter version of that.

Before I sign off this post I would like to say thanks to my blogger friends for visiting my blog everyday for  last 7 days and  leaving thoughts on my spinach week special. Though there are many more recipes which I cook with spinach but either they are very usual one like saag, dal palak, palak paneer or I didn't get to take the pictures. So, for now no more spinach on the blog everyday but it's surely making it's appearance on our dinner table everyday. And once in a while more recipes with spinach will make appearance on the blog too.

Pumpkin with Spinach

After looking at today's post title those who don't like lauki(bottlegourd), kaddu(pumpkin) kind of vegetables, the vegetables which belong to squash family must be thinking of skipping reading this post. Two days in a row I'm posting veggies from the squash family but let me say one thing, pumpkin is something if you cook it with right spices it can be finger licking good. Like lauki pumpkin is also used for making dessert called kaddu ka halwa but as I said in my last post in my house these vegetables are strictly for savory dishes only. Today's recipe can be made without spinach, that's what I usually use to make but now with the command from His Highness regarding eating spinach everyday, I'm incorporating spinach in many dishes which I never thought will taste good with the addition of any other thing in it, but reality is we all liked it and they taste equally good or sometime even better.

Now before we move to the recipe, let me warn U that there is a long list of whole spices which go into this and which result into really flavorful dish, not ordinary kaddu but flavorful one. To assure it's taste I would like to share this :

Scene from the grocery store, we(me + he) both are doing grocery together:

Me : does this pumpkin look good ?

He : why ? U want to buy pumpkin.....I'm not gonna eat this.

Me : (in my mind) we'll see....anyways I pick one

Scene from the day when pumpkin is the main dish on the dinner table :

Me : khana tyar hai(dinner is ready)

He : helps me set the table, (and here he goes ) U made that kaddu(

Me : yeap, for everybody (he thinks I'm gonna cook something specially for me only, sometimes when he goes for groceries he even buys pumpkin for me, saying that U like it so U make it for yourself...ha..haa)

Scene while having dinner :

He : subzi bari swad bani hai(Veggie is very tasty today...)

Me : yeah....

He : Is there any more???

Me : don't finish all, leave some for me.... I'm serious....

Result : Veggie bowl is finger lick clean....end of the story, no leftovers for tomorrow. If anyone interested about what happens in my house when I make kaddu(pumpkin) in any other form please click here.

What U need :

• 
  around 2 cup of cleaned regular pumpkin, diced into small cubes
• around 2 cups of cleaned, washed, chopped spinach
• 1 large onion thinly sliced
• 2 large tomatoes finely chopped
• 3-4 green hot peppers chopped
• 2 tsp. chopped garlic
• 2 tsp. chopped ginger
• 2 whole dry red chillis
• 2 black cardamons (moti ilaichi)
• 3-4 green cardamons (chotti ilaichi)
• 1 tsp. whole black peppers
• around 1 inch piece of cinnamon stick
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp. fenugreek seeds (methi dana)
• 1 tsp. fennel (moti saunf) seeds
• 1/2 tsp. onion seeds (kalonji)
• 1 tsp. black mustard (rai) seeds
• salt
• 1 tsp. degi mirch powder( if not available use paprika)
• 1 tsp. coriander (dhania) powder
• 1 tsp turmeric (haldi)
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• 3 Tblsp. of cooking oil (looks a lot but U need at least this much, if O.k with your diet plan can use even little bit more)

What U Do : 

1. Heat cooking oil in a heavy bottom pan on med. heat, add all the whole spices when aroma starts to come add garlic. After a minute or so add Onions.
2. Once the onions are translucent add ginger & pumpkin cubes. Saute them for 7-8 minutes. Pumpkin will be kind of all glazed & shiny.
3. Add tomatoes, green peppers & all dry spices.
4. Now if U r not using spinach let it cook till the point when pumpkin is cooked but still holding it's shape. DON'T OVERCOOK IT otherwise pumpkin will get all mushy. Whenever it's getting too dry add couple of spoons of water at a time.

      5. If you are planning to use spinach than add spinach and follow the instructions as per #4.

      6. Serve it warm with freshly made roti.

Note : Pumpkin is a vegetable which is sweet in taste, so we like it quite spicy, this kind of preparation gives it sweet & hot taste. Bite into the pumpkin and you feel the sweetness of it and the moment gravy mixture touches your taste buds you get that kick from the hot side of it, wanting you to eat more and more of it. 

Please adjust the level of heat according to your by adjusting the use of dry whole red peppers, green hot peppers & garam masala. As for other spices I'll really suggest to use them to get that aromatic hot & sweet flavor.

As this dish contains fenugreek seeds in it I'm sending it to one of my favorite blogger SE of  Denufood who's  hosting her first blog event "Cooking with Seeds : fenugreek" brainchild of Priya.

Lauki, Nutri and Spinach melody

Lauki / ghiya / doodhi / bottle gourd..... no matter what ever name you call it with, it's that kind of vegetable either you like it or not. Despite having a long list of health benefits attached to it, still it has a very bad reputation, mainly considered as a vegetable to be eaten during sick time(as it's very light vegetable on your digestive system) and also favorite among older generation being healthy & soft. It's also a very versatile vegetable depending on how you want to eat it, you can use it for yogurt dips(doodhi ka raita), vegetable curries, lauki chana dal is one very famous combo, my personnel favorite is ghiya ke koftas, another famous one is doodhi ka halwa, kheer & burfi.... yes it is equally common in sweet preparations also(though I stick with savory versions only) and one latest craze among modern age Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev's followers is Lauki Juice, about which he says "It's best unknown medicine to the world". Personally I have never tasted that juice, I like to stick with soup & curries made with lauki.

As for some benefits :

• cures disorders like jaundice
• excellent for light, low calorie diets
• suitable of hypertensive patients
• cures from kidney problems and toothaches
• very cooling, calming and easy to digest
• very valuable in urinary disorders
• low in fat & cholesterol and high in dietary fiber, Contains around 96% water
• rich in iron, vitamins C and B complex

Now before we move to the recipe, if you don't like lauki try to add little sour(I use x'tra tomatoes) & chilli flavors to it, that worked for him when I made him eat lauki for the first time almost a decade back. But now he eats it any way I prepare..... as long it's in a savory dish & strictly no sweets & juice out of it for him.

What U need : 

• 1 medium size Lauki (to see the lauki pic. click here) cut into bite size pieces
• large bunch of spinach washed & chopped
• 1/2 cup nutri nuggets
• 1 large onion
• 2 large tomatoes
• 3-4 green hot peppers
• 1 Tblsp. ginger garlic paste
• 2  tsp. cumin (jeera)
• 1 tsp. turmeric (haldi)
• 1 tsp. coriander (dhania) powder
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• 1 tsp. red chilli powder
• 1 tsp. urad dal
• 1 Tblsp. chana dal
• 1 Tblsp. cooking oil
• salt
• pinch of asafoetida (hing)

What U do :

1. Boil Nutri nuggets in salted water for 5 minutes, rinse, drain  squeeze.
2. Heat oil in a heavy bottom karahi/Wok on med. gas. Add urad & chana dal to it. Once dal gets little brown, add hing, cumin.
3. Next add ginger garlic and after few seconds add chopped onions. Cook them till they become translucent. Add all the dry spices & salt. Next add chopped up tomatoes.
4. After around 3-4 minutes add lauki to the pan, mix everything together, let it saute for 3-4 minutes or so than add 1/2 cup of water, cover & cook.
5. After around 10 minute or so add spinach & nutri nuggets to it & let the whole thing cook together for another 10 minute or so. 
6. Depending upon how fresh and soft raw lauki is cooking time will vary anywhere from 20 minutes to 30-35 minutes. Don't let the lauki get too mushy.
7. Once done squeeze some lime juice before serving it with roti / naan / parantha or dosa.

This is again one of the easy All-in-One kind of curry. Got vegetables, greens & soy protein(nutri nuggets) everything in one dish. Enjoy it.

Note : Occasionally(got twice in last ten years) lauki can be bitter also, so I usually eat a piece or two of raw lauki(before cooking) to make sure that it's fresh and not the bitter one , but if that's the case don't use the vegetable just throw it, as it can be harmful on your stomach.

Spinach Chicken / Palak Murg

Palak Murg is one of the famous dish from North India. Again there are many recipes for it, but the one I'm going to write down today is..... I can say authentic to my family, as it's not using spinach puree & also lot of onion & tomatoes are used in this one. Today's recipe is very simple in two ways : first there are no measurements, no particular recipe to follow and second it's cooked by him( reason for no measurements & no recipe). In regular day to day cooking we don't do measurements but when it comes to cooking by him, I'm never sure what will be the final dish but one thing is sure, no matter what he puts in the dish or how it looks like the taste is surely going to be superb. As I said I don't have exact measurements for the ingredients but I'm still gonna write down the basic ingredients & steps, it can be easily adjusted to your taste.

What U need :

• around 2 pound(1 kg.) chicken, cleaned, washed & cut into pieces
• lots of onion(around 4-5)
• lots of tomatoes(if u think 4 are O.k add one more)
• 2 Tblsp. of tomato paste
• lots of green hot peppers(may be 6-7)
• spinach as much u want, washed & chopped
• any store bought chicken masala powder
• cumin (jeera)
• cloves (laung)
• cinnamon stick (dal chini)
• garam masala
• cooking oil

For marinade :

• lots of ginger & garlic roughly chopped
• salt
• turmeric(haldi)
• paprika
  
• coriander(dhania) powder
•  1/2 cup plain yoghurt/dahi

What U do :

1. Mix everything in the marinade list in a big bowl & add chicken to it, coat it with the mixture. Keep it in the fridge for whatever time U have on hand (for an hour to maximum overnight, around 12 hrs. or so).
2. Bring it out of the fridge, at least half an hour before cooking.
3. Heat oil in a big wide pan/karahi. Splutter whole spices in it. Add chopped onions. Saute them well.
4. Once the onions are done add tomato paste, chopped tomatoes, green hot peppers. Let the mixture cook.
5. Add chicken masala powder & marinated chicken alongwith all the marinade.
6. Once the chicken is 90% done add chopped spinach. If at any point it gets dry add some water.
7. Cook till chicken is completely done. Sprinkle some garam masala on top of it.
8. Serve it with naan / roti / rice.

Note : If using store bought chicken masala, adjust the salt in the dish, as many a times those spice packets have salt in it.

Spinach Pulav with Spinach Raita

Today it's double dose of spinach. Usually I serve Spinach pulav with plain homemade dahi/yoghurt but I had some baby spinach needed to be used so result was Spinach raita, which can also be used as a dip for any type of finger food : vegetable sticks, tandoori chicken etc. This pulav is another one pot dish I rely on whenever I'm in time crunch, not only easy to prepare but tasty too....

For Spinach Pulav :

What U need : 

• 1 cup basmati rice, rinsed & soaked in water for at least 20 minutes
• a big bunch of fresh spinach, washed & chopped
• few small size frozen bhalle/vadas(fried lentil dumplings *see note)
• 1 carrot finely chopped
• 2-3 dry whole red chillies
• around 1" piece of cinnamon stick
• 3-4 cloves(laung)
• 1 tsp. cumin(jeera)
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric
• 1 tsp. red chilli powder or 2-3 green chillies
• salt
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• clarified butter(ghee)/cooking oil

What U do :

1. In a heavy bottom pan heat little ghee/oil(1 Tblsp.). Add cumin, cinnamon stick, cloves & dry whole red chillies.
2. Add drained rice & gently stir them so that they get the coating of oil.
3. Add all the dry spices, stir. Add spinach, carrots & bhalle/vadas(if using). Do not soak the bhalle first in water.
4. Add 2 cups of water. Cover & cook till the rice are done.

* Note : Use of ghee will make it more aromatic. Addition of bhalle makes this dish complete meal as it provides the protein. Whenever I make bhalle for dahi-bhalle I usually make few additional small bite size bhallas also, and freeze them which come handy in dishes like this. 

Variations : Instead of bhalle to get the dose of protein one can use nutri soy chunks, chicken or paneer cubes(Indian cheese). But in case of paneer add it once the pulav is cooked.

For Spinach Raita :

What U need :

• 1 cup dahi/plain yoghurt
• 1/2 cup chopped baby spinach (in case of regular spinach blanch it first)
• salt
• black pepper

What U do : Whisk the yoghurt & add rest of the ingredients. Serve it as a side dish for any kind of pulav or in this case with spinach pulav.

Moong Dal Wadi with Spinach

Sun dried dumplings of yellow lentils that's the best English translation I can do for wadi(sun dried dumplings) made with moong Dal(yellow lentils). Usually when someone talk about wadi the first thing or I should say the first place associated with wadi that comes into mind is Amritsar(Punjab). Famous for the most sacred Sikh Shrine "Golden Temple" and at the same time famous for it's delicious, rich food and Amritsari papad and wadiyan. Wadis that come from Amritsar are mainly made with urad dal & whole spices, very spicy and they are big in size also(about the size of fist). But the wadis I used here in this recipe are from Rajasthan, not at all spicy small in size, looks very much like nutrella nuggets also known as mangodis. I ate them first time only after my marriage when my MIL prepared it with some different combo, I loved it form the day one.

Amritsari wadis are usually fried first in little oil though you can do same with these also but if I'm using these in some sort of gravy dish I don't feel any need of frying, but to keep it little crunchy one can surely fry it first. Also as they are not spicy, you can control the level of heat. Amritsari wadis are usually cooked with something else like chana dal or potato, to balance the heat. Where as moong dal wadis because of there mild flavor, can be cooked in large quantity without adding any other veggie or lentils to it. Now for the recipe :

What U need :

• 1 pound of frozen spinach defrosted OR fresh spinach cleaned & chopped
• around 1 cup of dried moong dal wadi
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 Tblsp. of chopped garlic
• 1 Tblsp. of chopped ginger
• 2-3 green chillies chopped
• 2-3 whole dried red chillies
• pinch of hing(asafoetida)
• salt as per taste
• 1 tsp. whole cumin(jeera)
• 1 tsp. turmeric(haldi)
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 2 tsp. coriander(dhania) powder
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• little oil

What to do :

1. Heat oil(around 2 spoon) in a big pan or karahi(wok). Add hing to it after few seconds add cumin & dry red chillies.
2. When cumin starts to splutter, add garlic followed by ginger, sprinkle some salt so that ginger release it's juices which will prevent ginger from sticking to the pan. Add onions & let them cook till they become translucent.
3. Add all the dry spices, saute for a minute or so than add tomatoes.
4. After around 5 minute or so add wadis to the pan. Mix them so all the wadis get coated with the onion tomato mixture.
5. After 5 minute or so add 1 cup of water. Cover it & let it cook for around 10 minute or so. These wadis absorb a lot of water as they are not fried. So keep an eye just in case if it gets too dry add some more liquid.
6. Add chopped up spinach, green chillies & let the whole thing cook on med. heat for about another 10 minute or so. It's a thick kind of gravy dish, adjust the amount of liquid as per your taste.
7. Serve it with roti/phulka/prantha, it's one wholesome dish with protein pack wadis & healthy greens cooked together.

Note : Sometime these wadis can be really tough & can take little longer to cook. My MIL prefer to cook them in pressure cooker while making it in gravies. I sometime when in hurry, cook them halfway in microwave, covered in water in big bowl for roughly 5-7 minute & finish cooking them with rest of the gravy & spinach for around 10 min. or so. But again timings are only guidelines as sometime two packets bought together can also consume different time to cook.

Another important thing to remember is to keep these wadis in the fridge, in fact I keep all type of wadis in fridge. Specially moong dal wadis go stale easily, keeping them in fridge assure freshness for long time.

Creamy Spinach Pasta

To me pasta is very versatile. It can be prepared as a complete meal in itself or as a side dish or even as a salad. Another good thing about pasta is being a one pot meal it's hit at my place. I love pasta so much that I can even eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, afternoon snack or even late night snack. I don't need lot of cheese in my pasta, but yes lots of veggies are kind of must. Pasta is regular at my place but every time with little twist depending upon what veggies I have. This one with spinach is one of my favorite. Now talking of spinach, sometime in the beginning of this month DH decided that he want spinach for at least one meal everyday. In my household we cook most of the veggies & greens but when you want to eat spinach everyday you need to think out of the box, regular palak paneer, saag they are good no doubt but I'm sure no one can eat it day after day and most importantly for eating one good thing you can not give up other good things. So, for next 7 days I will try to post one recipe with spinach each day, just to give some idea that how easy it can be to include spinach in your everyday diet, you don't have to be Popeye and eat your spinach direct from the can you can make it more tasty & visual treat for your eyes before you eat that healthy stuff.

Some of the health benefit of including spinach in your regular diet are:

1. 
   
   Excellent source of vitamin A, C & folate.
2. Flavonoid compounds in spinach function as antioxidants and as anti-cancer agents.
3. It's an excellent source of  bone-building nutrients including calcium and magnesium.
4. Promotes Gastrointestinal Health
5. The anti-inflammatory nutrients in spinach can also help with conditions in which inflammation plays a role. For example, asthma, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis are all conditions that involve inflammation.
6. Cooked spinach is an excellent source of Iron.

Now for the recipe :
What U need :

• half pound of small pasta like macaroni, shell or farfalle
• 1 8oz. box of white button mushrooms
• 1 cup of cooked chicken cut into bite size pieces
• salt
• black pepper
• red chilli flakes
• 1 Tblsp. chopped garlic
• 1 bunch of fresh spinach cleaned or 1 frozen box(10 oz. ) of spinach defrosted
• around 1/4 cup of milk
• 1 Tblsp. of evoo

What to do :

1. Boil pasta as per the packet direction, Boil it for a minute or two less than the specified time as we gonna finish cooking it in the sauce.Reserve the pasta water.
2. In the mean time while pasta is boiling, clean & roughly chop the mushrooms.
3. Heat oil in a big pan, saute garlic & mushrooms in it. If you chop the mushrooms thin it should not take more than 5 minutes. Once done sprinkle some salt & black pepper.
4. Add milk to it & let it boil, simmer cook for another 2-3 minutes.
5. Cool little bit, take it out & puree it. That's the creamy sauce for the pasta.
6. In the same pan pour little pasta water & add chopped up spinach to it, let it cook for few minutes(roughly 4-5 minutes). Don't add any salt to this as we are using pasta water which is salty.
7. Once spinach looks like cooked add boiled pasta(drained), cooked chicken & mushroom sauce to it. Sprinkle some red chilli flakes. If it's little dry add some of the pasta water. Let everything cook together for a minute or two.
8. If you like sprinkle some Parmesan or any other cheese of your choice on top of it.

Note : I puree the mushrooms into sauce as this is one thing which my DD doesn't eat no matter what recipe they are in, so disguising is the only option I'm left with. You can leave it chunky as per your taste. Also for the vegetarian version, chicken can be left out & may be another packet of mushrooms can be added sliced & sauteed for the dose of extra protein.