Stuffed Cucumber Curry

Have you ever had a writer's block? Well, I am facing this right now...I am sitting in front of my computer screen, wanting to write something special, a thousand ideas running through the brain, but somehow not able to write anything. Words do not seem to come to mind and I am just aimlessly looking at the screen, waiting for my brain to convert the ideas to words that I can put together into a meaningful sentence...but I still go on looking at the screen (this could be a long evening.....!)

Well, now, I'm giving up for the day and just jumping to today's recipe. 

Ingredients

1 - long cucumber

For the stuffing 

2 tbsp - gram flour (besan) 
1 - green chilli, chopped 
2 inch piece - ginger, peeled and finely chopped 
1/4 tsp - red chilli powder (more or less)
1/4 tsp - garam masala 
2 1/2 tbsp - sunflower oil 
1/4 tsp - dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) 
1/4 tsp - whole coriander seeds, roughly broken 
1 tbsp - lemon juice 
4 tbsp - fenugreek leaves (methi), chopped 
1 tbsp - coriander leaves, chopped 
salt to taste

For tempering 

2-3 tbsp - sunflower oil 
1/4 tsp - panch phoran ( a mix of fenugreek, cumin, fennel, mustard and nigella seeds)
a generous pinch of asafoetida (hing)

Method

1. Peel the cucumber. Cut a 2cm wide "window" into the cucumber with a margin of around 2 cms at both ends as well as the bottom (see photo) Remove the cut out part. 
2. Rub some salt onto the cucumber all around.
3. Add all the ingredients of the stuffing to a bowl and mix well.
4. Fill in the stuffing into the cucumber Cut the cucumber into approx 5 cm long pieces. 
5. Heat the oil in a pan, add the panch phoran and hing. When the seeds start to splutter, add the stuffed, cut cucumber pieces and cook on a low heat, turning the pieces carefully every couple of minutes until they are brown from all the sides. (the cooked cucumber should not be too soft)
6. Serve hot with rice or rotis, or even as a starter!

Enjoy!

Back after a long break with some delicious Crumpets.

Apologies for vanishing suddenly from the blog world and being away for such a long time....and especially about leaving midway my two part recipe of Saffron Plum Compote with Crumpets. So, here am I again, and here is part 2 of the 2 part recipe. 

But first, a big Thank You to all of you who have left mails with comments and wishes - It makes me feel really special and happy. I sometimes wonder about this beautiful bond of friendship we share with each other - though we have not met, we are bound by a common passion - for blogging, for good food, for sharing our thoughts, our joys and sometimes our sorrows. 

This passion connects us in a special way, and I enjoy it, like it and even miss it when I am not active.

Today's recipe was lying in my drafts for a long time...I made it with a Saffron Plum Compote (recipe here). These crumpets (recipe taken from here ) went very well with the whipped cream (mixed with a little vanilla extract and castor sugar) and the fruity saffrony flavour of the compote. And it looked really pretty too!

Hope you like the crumpets as much as we did and I promise to be a regular again!

Ingredients

112.5 grams - all purpose flour

1/4 tsp - sugar

1/8 tsp - salt

1/2 tsp - dried yeast

75 ml - warm milk

75 ml - warm water

a generous pinch of cinnamon powder

Method

1. Place the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon powder and the dried yeast in a large bowl and mix well. Pour in the warm milk and water and mix well until well combined.
2. Cover the bowl with a cling film or a plastic wrap and leave it in a warm place to rise for about an hour or until the batter doubles the volume.
3. Remove the plastic wrap and stir the batter really well. 
4. Grease lightly a non stick pan and heat the pan over a low flame. Sit the greased crumpet rings in the pan and leave to heat up for a minute.
5. Pour in the batter to fill the rings just over halfway up the sides. Cook on a low heat until plenty of small holes appear on the surface and the batter has just dried out. 
6. Remove the rings carefully and turn the crumpets to cook further for  a couple of minutes.
7. Let the crumpets cool on a wire rack.
8. Serve the crumpets with some whipped cream and saffron plum compote.

With or without the cream these crumpets were simply delicious...

and this one is for you :-)

Enjoy!

Saffron Plum Compote

It's finally time that the winter should be over, that the new green on the trees can be seen again and the chirping of the birds starts again, and that a few rays of golden sunshine light up this part of the world again...Well we did have a small preview of spring a couple of weeks ago, but the last few days have again been cold and dark and dreary, wet and grey.

Well, to somewhat light up the atmosphere, I decided to combine my favourite spice with one of my favourite fruit. Last week I went to the Vitualienmarkt - Munich's historical marketplace, where one can find all possible varieties of exotic fruit and vegetables, all times of the year. My basket did have some luscious plums on the way back, which I could not resist biting into until I was back home. But the few that did make it back home, went into this delightful compote. The best part about the compote is, you can serve it warm or cold, you can keep it for a few days (well, that is, if you can resist the temptation to clean it off at first chance!), and it goes well with almost any dessert - or is absolutely yummy on its own, licked by the spoonful ;-)

Along with the compote, I made some Crumpets (recipe up next on your favourite food blog, so stay tuned!).

Ingredients

3 - plums, pitted and chopped
1 tbsp - crystallised ginger, finely chopped
2 1/2 tbsp - honey (more or less according to your taste and how sweet the plums are)
1/4 tsp - cinnamon powder
10 - 12 strands of saffron

Method

1. Place the plums, crystallised ginger and honey in a pan and cook on a low heat, stirring occasionaly until the plums are slightly soft. 
2. Add the cinnamon powder and saffron and cook for a minute. 
3. Remove from the heat and serve hot or cold with a dessert of your choice.

Enjoy!

Remembering Maa with her favourite Fenugreek Raisin Apple Curry and Okra Curry

It's been 2 years today since she left us and I still can't believe it. Maa, my grandma in law, to whom I was really really close. Unfortunately, both my hubby and I were the only one who couldn't meet her when she was taking her last breaths and we miss her dearly.

For 8 years, on every India visit, for those few days, I always spent a lot of time with her in the kitchen - that was the place where we not only cooked together, but also shared and talked about a lot of things. That obviously included food and she taught me a lot of traditional recipes.

She was a great cook and it's hard to replicate the dishes she made. Even her simple and easy to make dishes don't taste the same when we make them. One example is this bhindi ki sabji (okra curry), which is our as well as was her favourite vegetable, one which she would always make multiple times when we were visiting. 

Another thing she loved was cooking veggies with a sweet touch - or even fruits in curries! And my hubby (and to some extent me) have picked up this taste as well. 

Since I am dedicating this post to her, I have taken the liberty to use loads of oil compared to my usual standards - which was the way she cooked. In fact she actually used to almost deep fry the okra, then squueze out the extra oil and then tell me, "dekho, saara tel nikal gaya, ab isme jyada tel nahi hai" translated into english, "look, I have squeezed out the extra oil from the okra and now it's not that oily"... and I would just smile. And, believe me when I say that her okra curry was simply yummy and the best I've had.

This platter has all her favourite dishes and am sure, this would have made her really happy. 

Fenugreek Raisin Apple curry

Ingredients

2 tbsp - raisins, soaked overnight

1 - dried red whole chill, soaked overnight

1 tbsp - fenugreek seeds (methi), 

1 - apple, peeled and chopped into small pieces

3 tbsp - sunflower oil

1/8 tsp - fennel seeds and nigella seeds 

a generous pinch of asafoetida (hing)

1/8 tsp - turmeric powder + a pinch

1/4 tsp - coriander powder

1/4 tsp - dried mango powder (amchur)

salt to taste

red chilli powder (optional)

2 tsp - sugar

Method

1. Soak the fenugreek seeds overnight in some boiling water with a pinch of turmeric powder and a pinch of salt. Cover the lid.
2. Remove the water from the soaked fenugreek seeds, chilli and raisins the next day. Cut the chilli into small pieces.
3. Heat up the oil in a non stick pan and add the fennel, nigella seeds and hing. Add the apple, fenugreek seeds and raisins. Cook for a couple of minutes.
4. Add the rest of the spices and mix lightly and cook for another couple of minutes or until the apples are slightly soft.
5. Add the sugar and mix. Cook for a half a minute and remove from the heat.
6. Serve hot.

Okra curry (bhindi ki sabji)

Ingredients

500 grams - okra, cut into small pieces

6 - 7 tbsp - sunflower oil

1/4 tsp - turmeric powder

1 tsp - red chilli powder

2 tsp - coriander powder

1 tbsp - raw mango, grated

1 tbsp - coconut, grated (i used dessicated coconut but fresh tastes better)

salt to taste

corainder leaves to garnish

Method

1. Heat the oil in a non stick pan and add the okra. Cook on a medium heat until the okra gets a little darker / brownish in colour. 
2. Remove from the heat and add the spices, grated raw mango and coconut. Mix well.
3. Place the pan back on the heat and cook again for a couple of minutes.
4. Add chopped coriander leaves and serve.

Missing you Maa...wish you were here with us.

Mashawa / Maschaua Kebaps

Years ago, I had this delicious Mashawa soup for the first time at an Afghani restaurant and immensely enjoyed it - the rich flavours and the spicy taste of the soup immediately struck a chord in my heart. Since then, it has become one of my favourites when eating out - and is not only yummy, but a pretty rich source of protein as well - which is important for vegetarians.

I wanted to try out this soup at home for a long long time and bought this packet of mixed beans and lentils thinking I would make it finally. 

I washed the beans, soaked them overnight, and went off to bed. The next day, I continued with the process, pressure cooked the beans and as I was simultaneously doing other stuff, for some strange reason, drained the water completely and left the cooked beans in the sieve. A couple of hours later, I stepped back into the kitchen coz I was starving...saw the beans and was amazed at my own forgetfulness. 

Well, the result was that the beans were all dried up. So, I thought, why not make something else with them? Thus was born this recipe - thanks to my forgetfulness! We had these kebaps with a yogurt dip - and they turned out to be at least as good as the soup, even though a bit different and slightly drier than they would ideally be.

As they say...necessity is the mother of invention!

Ingredients

3/4 cup - assorted beans and lentils, soaked in some water overnight

1 medium size - onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp - dill, finely chopped

3 pods of garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp - ginger, finely chopped

1 - green chilli, finely chopped (more or less)

1/2 tsp - garam masala powder

1 1/2 tsp - lemon juice (adjust according to your taste)

1 tbsp - olive oil +some more to pan fry the kebaps

red chilli powder (optional)
salt to taste

Method

1. Pressure cook the beans for 3-4 whistles/rings, drain the water and leave in the sieve for a couple of hours.
2. Heat 1 tbsp of oilve oil in a pan, add the onions, garlic, ginger and saute until the onions are soft. Add the cooked beans and mash them slightly. Add salt and cook again for a couple of minutes.
3.  Add the lemon juice, garam masala powder and chopped dill and mix well.
4. Remove from the heat. Shape the beans into a long cylinder and insert a skewer inside.
5. Sprinkle a little olive oil on the pan and cook the kebaps until golden brown from all sides.
6. Serve hot with any dip of your choice.

Enjoy!