Punjabi Chole & no-need for Store bought Chana Masala

This is one of those posts where I don't have any idea how to start......it's Punjabi Chole(chickpeas) or more popularly known as Chana Masala. I prefer to call them chite(white) chole(chickpeas), that's how every Punjabi call it. No matter whatever you call it they are almost on every Indian restaurant's menu and everybody loves it from kids to adult, even the picky eaters won't say anything if chole are on the menu. I was avoiding this post from long time for two reasons 1) it's kind of a regular food in our house so I don't see any need for me to record this recipe 2)  chole brings back so many memories from the childhood, so I knew that it's gonna be one long, time consuming post for me(authentic & famous food can be little difficult to write....don't U think so). But a friend from neighborhood after browsing my blog mentioned that I don't have many authentic Punjabi recipes on my blog & she also wanted recipe for Punjabi chole. Please scroll down if U want to jump to the recipe because I really can't write this post without sharing few of my memories.

If you ever lived in Delhi(India's Capital) even for couple of days, then you must know how important this dish is.....it's one of the famous breakfast item in most of the restaurants, goes well with puri / bhaturas / kulchas(my fav.), available in every nook & corner of the city, some very famous others not so much but still selling a lot of this stuff. Chole-chawal(rice) is also one good combination, if you have never tried that combination give it a try, I still remember once a week in our school canteen(that's what our cafeteria's were called) chole-chawal use to be in the menu, though chole has been regular in my mom's house also and she cooks really tasty food, but still I loved to eat those chole chawal served in Dona's(eco-friendly Indian disposable bowls made using dry leaves), I miss that how we all friends use to book(pre-order) our chole-chawal before the recess starts with canteen wale uncle-ji, it was quite high demand item & no matter what, we could never think of missing it. Here comes another story, every thursday evening, trip to the weekly market.....moms looking for fresh vegetables & fruits, we kids waiting to reach that section of the market where U could smell chole from 2 blocks away, as you approach near, you see groups of people standing in line waiting for their "to go" packs of chole-bhatura & on the other side 2 tables jam-packed, no chairs everybody standing & enjoying their share of chole-bhatura, chole topped with lots of imli(tamarind) chutney & spicy onion salad. That was our fast food way better than today's fast food joints. Fresh food(no frozen stuff)....prepared in front of your eyes, no worries of hygine, we ate it almost everyday never got sick.......I miss all that stuff.

Last but not the least "Chacha Di Hatti", literally means "Your Dad's younger brother's shop". It's located in Kamla Nagar, next to North Campus of Delhi University. I use to work in this office which was facing this little tiny chole-bhatura shop. Days when I had to be in the office early in the morning(i'm talking 6:30 in the morning) I use to see this teenager boy sitting in front of big giant patila(cooking pot) full of steaming hot boiled potatoes & peeling them (this shop sells chole with potatoe version.).....and by 9-9:30 a.m this place use to look like as if they are distributing free food...no place to sit hoards of students waiting for their turn.....we were lucky that our peon had good repo with Chacha's workers so we didn't had to get into any lines but we had to make sure that we always order a plate for our peon also.....his name was ram singh but was called bhaiyaji(big brother) with respect.......

Just to give you an idea how much I love and miss the convenience of getting a plate(or may be two for me) of chole-bhatura after moving out of Delhi.............it's been a decade since I started living in America even after those many years & the convenience of freezers(where I can store food for my weekend morning cravings) still on lazy weekend mornings when I don't want to get up..... my favorite dialogue( I should better call it a complaint) is......we even don't have any single decent chole-bhatura take out nearby. I only shared few of my memories and I'm getting this craving for chole-bhatura's now, before I start writing the recipe thanks to you guys who took time out to read this, now to the recipe and I'm starting it with notes as I feel these are the few important things u need to know before moving on to the recipe.

Notes : 1) if you are planning to use dry chickpeas U need to soak them for atleast 8 hrs. or so, I usually soak them overnight for next morning brunch.

         2) another important thing is getting the dark blackish /brown color of this dish. One popular way is use black tea leaves.....tie them in a cotton cloth & make a pouch, boil them with chickpeas & after boiling fish the pouch out.

         3) another option for getting dark color is using 3-4 dry amla(Indian gooseberry) pieces while boiling the chickpeas, learned this from my SIL few years back, works well it also gives little tangy flavour. But if u don't have access to dry amla, stick with tea leaves or next option.

        4) Brown your masala to the stage where it's totally brown BUT NOT BURNT, could be little tricky, also if using less oil....kind of difficult to achieve this stage.

       5) I don't use any chana masala(my family & friends love it the way I make, never complains of anything missing in it), actually I don't think there is anything called chana masala in any Punjabi household or for that matter all the ready made masalas are just for our convenience....before the birth of these ready to use masala powders there use to be these various spices only which our moms use to mix up in various proportions according to the dish they are going in. Dhania(coriander) powder is one important spice in punjabi chole alongwith home made punjabi style garam masala, which basically has all the ingredients which U would find in any store bought masala powder.

       6) This dish usually has some kind of sourness added to it. As I mentioned above I boil them with amla pieces, more traditional option is anardana(dry pomegrante seeds) or other common options are dry mango powder(amchur), tamarind(Imli) juice or juice of lime/lemon.

What U need :

• 1&1/2 cups of dry uncooked chickpeas(white chana), soaked overnight
• salt
• 2 Tblsp. finely chopped ginger
• 2 Tblsp. finely chopped garlic
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 3 medium size tomatoes, finely chopped( I prefer to puree them)
• 1 Tblsp. of tomato paste(use more if u like more redish tone in your final dish)
• 4-5 green chillies
• 2 tsp. cumin(jeera) seeds
• 2-3 dry whole red chillies
• 1-2 bay leaves
• oil around 4 Tblsp.(use more or less)

Dry Spices :

• 1 tsp. turmeric(haldi)
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1-2 tsp. red chilli powder as per taste(I use degi mirch)
• 2 Tblsp.coriander (dhania) powder (preferably coarse kind....I usually grind it at home for this purpose)
• 1 Tblsp. cumin powder
• 2 pinchs of freshly grated nutmeg(jaiphal)
• 2 tsp. punjabi style garam masala or as per your taste (it makes the dish hot)

What U do :

Boil soaked chickpeas(check notes above) with salt & bay leaves, it can take anywhere from 15-20 minutes in pressure cooker or use canned one.

While chickpeas are boiling you can start working on the masala(tarka) part of it.

Heat oil in a wide heavy bottom pan. Add Cumin, dry whole red chillies, stir after around 30 seconds or so add garlic and  saute it...... next add ginger & also sprinkle a pinch of salt on it. Salt will help release water from the ginger which helps ginger not to stick to the pan.

Once ginger garlic is sauteed add onions & cook them on med. gas till they are brown...careful not to burn these. It might take 10-12 minutes.

Now add all the spices listed under dry spices category. If you are using little less oil at this stage spices might get burn so to avoid that add a splash of water along with them & it will be fine. If using amchur/anardana add at this time.

Let spices get mixed up with onion mixture then add a spoonful of tomato paste. After a minute or so add tomatoes & chopped green chillies. Let the whole tarka cook for 10 minute or so. Aroma will tell you it's done or when all the water from tomatoes is cooked up, oil start leaving the sides & tarka is turned into paste like texture, it' s done.

Now add boiled chickpeas to the masala mixture, reserve the water. If using tamarind add it at this time. Only add as much water as much u need for the gravy, if any left can be used in making dough for roti.

Let the whole dish simmer on med. heat for at least 10-15 min. or till u get the desired thickness of the gravy.

Before serving add splash of lime/lemon juice as per your taste. Garnish with some freshly chopped cilantro. Serve it along with your favorite of puri/bhatura/kulcha/roti with the side of some onion salad & I promise you will prefer to skip the dessert part of the meal & instead eat an extra serving of chole/chana masala.

Please do read this......

Finally, my post is done.....before hitting the "Publish Post" I want to share an experience with u guys which happened 2 days back......when this post was still a WIP(work in progress).....half of it was done that is upto the ingredient part & from the procedure/method part, I had only written boil the chickpeas and no pics & my little one came & started playing with the computer mouse......so I decided to take a break but before I took her away from the computer she clicked few times & out of all the clicks she did.......one click was right on the target(though little too early), she clicked on "Publish Post" button. After an hour or so when I came back to write rest of the post then only I realised that my post is not only already published but has got 3 comments also. All of the comments were positive & nice but I believe my fellow bloggers were trying to be nice as no one mentioned that recipe part is missing.....may be they got confused or they were in hurry or may be if you already know some recipe for a dish you don't need to see the whole recipe, u just glance the ingredient list & u r good to go.....but I really think to get a comment like nice recipe one need to have some recipe first which my post was missing at that time, so sorry, but I had to delete those comments......Thanks to all of you who spared so much time for my  not-so interesting story.

Pav Bhaji

You don't have to be a mumbalite to love Pav bhaji, for those readers to whom these terms sounds like words from alien language Mumbai is the financial capital of India.The city also houses India's Hindi film and television industry, known as Bollywood.......largest in the world in terms of ticket sales and number of films produced and Pav Bhaji is one of the very famous street food from that city, popular through out India.

I don't think I have ever met any Indian who doesn't like Pav Bhaji. As it's not only tasty but you also get full dose of veggies in one shot (also a multi-day dose of fat/butter if you make it the typical way street vendors make it over there). I use to make bhaji at home & bring burger/buns/pav whatever best I can get my hands on from the grocery store. But if you like pav bhaji, you know how important pav is in this dish. Couple of months back while browsing thru my papers I found a piece of paper with the recipe for home made pav in it......I'm sure I must have noted down this from "Greh Shobha" magazine. It's an Indian magazine and my MIL has a big collection of it, so when ever I visit her, one of my favorite thing to do is read all those magazines and many a times note down few recipes also. So, I gave it a try and they came out good......decided, no more bread buying for bhaji.....I have made few changes in terms of flour. Here goes my version of pav bhaji :

What U need for Pav :

• 1 cup all purpose flour( i use maida)
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour(regular atta can be used)
• 1 cup bread flour
• 1 Tblsp. active dry yeast
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1cup luke warm water
• 3 Tblsp. oil
• few drops of milk

What U need for Bhaji :

• 1 large potato
• 2 green bell peppers(capsicum / shimla mirch)
• 2-3 carrots
• 1/2 cup peas
• 1/2 cup cauliflower
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 -3 medium size tomato, chopped
• 2-3 green chillies, chopped
• 2 Tblsp. tomato paste
• 3-4 tsp. pav bhaji masala (i prefer MDH)
• salt
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric(haldi)
• oil / butter

What U need for final dish :

• handful of chopped red onion
• handful of chopped cilantro
• Amul butter lots of it OR as little as you want(or any butter U like)
• lime/lemon pieces

What u do :
For Pav :

Add yeast & sugar to luke warm water, let it sit for 5-7 min. till it get little foamy. In a big bowl take flours add salt, yeast water & oil. Knead it to a soft dough. Take another clean big bowl grease it & keep the dough in it covered with plastic wrap. Leave it at warm place for 2 hours or so till it gets almost double in size.

Once double in size punch down the dough, knead it again & make around 8-9 same size balls. Arrange them next to each other in greased mould, I used Pyrex dish for that. Let them rest again at warm place for another hour. Heat oven at 350 degree F brush the dough balls with milk & bake for 15-20 minutes. Once the golden brown crust forms on the bread that means pav's are ready. Take out of the oven & mould let it rest & cool.

For Bhaji :

Steam all veggies except onion & tomato with very little water, salt & turmeric. Once done, mash them using potato masher or back side of serving spoon. Now take a big pan/karahi, heat some butter(I use half butter, half oil) & saute onions in it. Later add tomato paste, chopped tomatoes & green chillies. Let everything cook. Add pav bhaji masala, after a minute or so add mashed veggies & let everything simmer for at least 15-20 minutes. If  looks too dry add few spoons of water.

How to serve :

Cut each pav horizontally into two parts, top & bottom. Put some some butter on to the hot griddle/tava & toast pav's on it(cut side down). Now to serve put pav with the butter toasted side up in the plate & next to it put a serving of bhaji, sprinkle some lime juice, chopped red onions, cilantro & lots of utterly butterly delicious Amul butter(India's most famous butter).

Note : Bhaji tastes much better if you make it at least few hours ahead of time. One can easily control the amount  of butter used in this dish & it still tastes good.

I wanted to send it to Champa's "Baking with Book-Breakfast event" but never got a chance to complete it in the month of April. But still it's on it's  way to champa of Bangalore Baker for her weekly baking event.

Dinner for breakfast.....anyone??? It's Pizza......

Now a days I'm hardly getting any time to post anything on my blog, whatever little time I get,I try to read as many posts from my favorite blogs as many I can. My little one is no more a baby she's quite a handful as a very active toddler......who can easily figure out how to climb up the shelves, she doesn't like my kitchen stuff tucked inside the cupboards & pantry, the moment she sees kitchen floor is empty she feels it's her duty to get everything out on the floor, I guess that helps her decide which container is best to climb up on. These stories will go on & on, coming to the pizza....it's been a while now I've been baking this, I feel the recipe is very easy & no chances of going wrong. You can easily make the healthy choices when u are making it at home by choosing low fat version of cheese, controlling the quantity of cheese and mixing whole wheat flour in the dough.

What U need :

For Crusty pizza dough 

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 cup Luke warm water(may be little extra)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 2&1/2  to 3&1/2 cups all purpose flour( i use unbleached + substitute 1 cup with whole wheat flour)
• 1 Tblsp. corn meal 

For topping : 

• little olive oil
• tomato based pizza sauce around 1 cup
• 2 cups of toppings of your choice
• shredded mozzarella
• chili flakes

What to do :

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add it to 2 & 1/2 cups of flour along with salt and olive oil . Mix it.
2. Add remaining flour, little at a time knead it till it comes together & no more sticky. In total it should take around 6-8 minute of kneading.
3. Place it in a greased big bowl, roll it to grease the dough, cover with damp kitchen cloth or plastic wrap. Let rise in warm place, about 2 hour or so, it should be almost double by then if not wait some more time. Once rise punch dough down.
4. At this stage it's ready to be shaped & baked or you can keep it in the fridge for using it next day. But I prefer to do one more thing provided I have time on hand let it rest for another rise, covered with plastic wrap in warm place, an hour or so and after that proceed with it. I feel this extra step eliminates any yeast smell which is usually there when u bake pizza at home. Thou no body complaints at home they always love fresh home made pizza, but I feel that little smell, so I prefer double rise method.
5. When ready to make pizza make sure oven is preheated very well at 450 degree F and also if dough was in the fridge take it out at least half an hour before u shape it.
6. Brush the pizza pan with oil. Sprinkle cornmeal on to it. Roll the dough using some flour & transfer it to pan, pressing across bottom of pan. 
7. Using a fork, pierce the dough at few spots. Spread around 1/2 a cup of pizza sauce. Add toppings. Sprinkle some dry herbs like oregano & chilli flakes. Bake it in the hot oven for around 12-14min. or till sides start to get little brown.
8. Take it out sprinkle shredded cheese & bake for another few minutes till cheese starts to melt(keep an eye).

 Notes :

• As I'm using active dry yeast & I know it's fresh as I keep it in the fridge(I buy small quantities only) I don't poof it first, in case of other yeast poof it for 7-8 minutes.
• My recipe suggest 14 inch pizza pan for this but  I normally makes 2 pizzas out of this recipe, one for kids with their choice of toppings & another one for adults with more spices & toppings. And I use one 10" cast iron flat griddle(makes wonderful pizza), quality of this one is very much similar to one made using pizza stone, as I have used that too......oh, yes! when it comes to kitchen stuff specially fancy kind I love to buy it. Second pizza is usually in my standard size baking sheet(good for thin crust).
• For pizza sauce, if u notice in the top picture I used 2 kind of sauces, left is regular tomato based & on right side it's spicy green sauce(cilantro + green chillies), it does take it to whole different level.
• For toppings let your imagination run wild, few of my fav. unusual toppings are baby corn, home made meatballs or cheese balls(kofta), you can't see but top pizza has nice crunchy toasty cashew nuts & pistachios as one of the topping & last but not the least chocolate chips, favorite with DD & her friends. If u want to use choc. chips only put them toward the last few minutes of cooking as that will result in gooey warm choc. chips and not totally melted chocolate.

I started writing this post with  "Baking from a Book" event in my mind, as I use this recipe form my little recipe book which comes with kitchen aid Stand mixer. But now when I checked champa's blog I realized I missed the part breakfast in the event. But I'm still forwarding it to you Champa(Bangalore Baker), if you like u can add it to your event, as in my house we are big eater when it comes to pizza. Me & my DD always enjoy leftover pizza for breakfast next day & the days when I plan little ahead it's fresh pizza for the weekend brunch. And I'm sure there must be many more like me who can not resist a slice of pizza for the breakfast. Off it goes to Bake-off event also, hosted by Champa only. Also sending it to Susan's Yeastspotting event.

Chocolate Cake with Whipped Icing & Buttercream decoration

I'm back.......kind of, it's been almost 3 weeks I was off the blogging, no particular reason just busy with the kids, being absent from the blogging gave me the feeling of bunking the classes.......hard to decide now ,how to come back, well made this cake past week, so decided to post it. During the past weeks, missed on reading all the wonderful posts on my favourite blogs, will surely try to catch up when ever I get some time. Here's what we baked  to celebrate DD's spring break : "Chocolate Cake".

I mainly followed the recipe from here, but instead of making it layered cake I halved the recipe & baked only one 8" round pan. Thou, the changes I made are very small but still I'm going to write down the ingredient list so that next time I don't have to do all the calculations again, if any of you want to make it 2 layer please check the original recipe that way it'll be more easy.

What U need :

• 3/4 cup of water
• 2 ounce unsweetened chocolate bar/chips (I used semi sweet so i decreased the quantity of sugar)
• 2 Tblsp. of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/ 2 cup unsalted butter(1 stick)
• 4&1/2 Tblsp. granulated sugar
• 4&1/2 Tblsp. light brown sugar (I used only 1 Tblsp. b'coz of semi sweet choc.)
• 1 whole large egg + 1 egg yolk (I use organic ones)
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup all purpose flour (I used cake flour 1 cup + 2 Tblsp.)
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• pinch of salt

What U do :

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Grease & flour  pan.
2. In microwave heat water & chocolate chips, stir them to make a smooth mixture add cocoa powder & again whisk it till creamy & smooth, set aside & let it cool.
3. Sift flour + baking soda + salt.
4. Cream butter for a minute or so, add both sugars & beat it for another 2 minutes until light & fluffy.
5. Add one egg at a time. Mixing well after each addition.
6. Add the flour mixture & melted chocolate alternately, stirring well after each addition.
7. Pour it into prepared pan & bake it for around 20 minutes or so, mine was done in exactly 18 minutes. If  you use more or less batter, baking time will vary accordingly.

Now, baking a cake is one part, making it a real cake is next part. Yes, you guys read it right....A cake is not real if it doesn't have any frosting on it.....frosting on the cake makes it real cake, at least that's what my daughter says. At least once a week I bake cupcakes for her & whip up some heavy cream for her as a frosting and she loves that but once in a while I guess it's O.k to spend some extra time to decorate cake/cupcakes so kids feel extra special, so this was one of that kind of day. Result happy kids & happy mom & dad........well for two reasons one, she got a real cake and second,because I was busy experimenting with the icing so I get off from the dinner duty....NO....NO....No he didn't cooked but he was happy to bring home pizza. Finally the icing :

To frost the cake I used fresh whip cream : 1 & 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream + 3 Tblsp. of confectioner sugar, whipped together till a stiff peak is formed. Once you get the right thickness(stiff peak) stop, don't over beat it. Ice the cake and keep it in the fridge until you are ready to decorate.

Butter cream icing for decoration: 

• 3 Tblsp. unsalted butter
• 3 Tblsp. vegetable shortening( I use Crisco brand)
• 1 tsp. corn syrup
• 1 Tblsp. water
• 1/2 tsp. clear vanilla flavor
• 1 &1/2 to 2 cups of confectioner sugar
• pinch of salt

Cream butter, shortening, water, corn syrup & flavoring. Add dry ingredients(add only 1 & 1/2 cup at this point) and mix well, until creamy, taste & if feel more sugar needed add rest of the sugar you might need another tsp. of water if you are using all the sugar, beat until creamy. This process may take 5-10 minutes if using hand held beater, stand mixer makes the job little easier.

Divide the icing into two parts. Add 2-3 drops of red color to get the pink shade in one & mix it properly so that color is mixed well. Now to get the red shade it takes little extra color, in my case I ended up using at least 10-12 drops of red but still couldn't get rich dark color. But all that color made my icing little loose so I had to add extra tablespoon of confectioner sugar & mix it well(make sure no lumps are formed).

Using cookie cutters mark the pattern on the cake and finally prepare two pastry bags with each icing color and using different star tip # 13, 16, 21 fill  the design with stars and shells on the borders.

Note : As I'm using freshly whipped cream for frosting and also butter in the buttrecream icing, the decorated cake may not withstand the hot temperature. So, it's best to keep it in the fridge, take it out may be half an hour before you are ready to eat it.

I'm sending this cake to one of my favorite blogger Champa of Bangalore Baker for her ongoing Bake-Off event.

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.