Navratan Kurma

Navratan Kurma

The list of ingredients is long but you can add or leave out some veggies. This yummy vegetable is enjoyed by young and old. Serve it with rotis, naan or even pao!!

This is my today’s post under Kid’s anniversary special for blogging marathon.

Navratan Kurma

Ingredients:

• 100 grms carrots
• 100 grms peas
• 100 grms French beans
• 100 grms cauliflower
• 100 grms potatoes
• 100 grms paneer
• 1 tblspn+ 4 tblspn cashew nuts
• 1 tblspn pineapple
• ½ capsicum
• 1 large onion, crushed
• ½ cup oil
• ½ cup milk
• 2 tblspn of cream (approx)
•  2 tblspn curds
• 3 tomatoes, crushed
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 tsp chilli powder
• ½ tsp haldi/turmeric powder
• ½ tsp garam masala

Method:

• Chop the vegetables in cubes.
• Boil the peas, steam and blanch the carrots, French beans and cauliflower.
• Grind 4 tblspn cashew nuts with the milk to a smooth paste.
• Heat oil and fry the cashew nuts, potatoes and paneer individually. Drain on a tissue and set aside.
• Fry the onion till golden.
• Add the tomatoes and ginger garlic paste. Cook till the oil separates.
• Add the cashew nut paste and fry for 5 minutes.
• Add the chilli powder, salt, haldi/turmeric, garam masala and curds.
• Cook till oil separates. Add the vegetables and paneer add ½ cup water and cook till the gravy thickens.
• Serve hot garnished with dhania/ coriander leaves.
• Serves good with rotis, naan we all love it with Goan Pao or Unne.

Navratan Kurma

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 45

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Tinda Stuffed with Paneer and Mint~ Dedicated to Mom

 I decided to make tinda and started to make Tinda Do piyaza that I had seen here.

However as I started long lost memories of how we, that is we siblings, hated this vegetable as kids swamped me. We always fought with my mother when we saw this vegetable. But in the sweltering heat of Nagpur and Akola where we spent our childhood in the summer very few vegetables were available. One was Gola Bhaji and other dhemsa or tinda. Poor mom had nothing to make, she must have been so frustrated…

MASALE BHATH

Cravings that were what my second pregnancy was dotted with!!

I wanted to eat the strangest possible things   “adki” i.e. betel nut powder that my Papa makes (mind you I could barely stand the stuff before and used to wonder how my siblings could stuff themselves with it) to masala bhath I wanted it all.

I still remember stuffing myself with this delicious bhath at a party and then because my friend insisted drinking a lot of buttermilk, just to prevent heartburn as she put it.  Wow that was bliss!!

The effects of these cravings can be seen even now, for my younger one loved this rice preparation while the older one said it was strange, yes strange! Her choice of words left me feeling that I should make this rice more often.

Mocha Mousse Cake

This is one dish that I enjoyed making.

 Why? My daughters helped me, one of the few rare times when they came in willingly and helped me happily. This was my best Valentine gift from them both. Thanks Kiddos! I love you “gais” (in case you want to misunderstand I am talking about the cow)J.

This one is a Tarla Dalal recipe something that I had bookmarked long long ago. Need I say more?

Nachni-che-Satv or Ragi Pudding

Staying in Goa from the time I got married 23 years to be exact has exposed me to quite a few wonderful dishes in this cuisine.

There is a preconceived notion that there are no vegetarian dishes in this cuisine. I remember when I was to be married all my neighbours and friends kept on telling me that I will have nothing but “Samudra chawlikai” that is cluster beans from the sea. Of course fish is the staple food here in Goa, but a Goan does “go veg” at least 2 times in a week and on all kinds of festivals, panchmi, chathurtis etc.

Any celebration and you have “mangane” a kind of kheer and of course “Nachni-che-satv”.

Nachini or ragi is a very nutritious. It is good for infants and old and the in-betweens also. Its calcium and iron is easily assimilated by the body. Try this wonderful grain in sweets and savoury food stuff alike.Read more about it here.

Egg-less Buttery Cookies~ A Sweet Punch

When Priya posted her egg less buttery almond cookies I could not resist them. I had such a craving for them that I baked them immediately.

 Me and follow recipes? Surprised are you not?

Well there are times when I do follow recipes, but you are correct I did not follow it to the T made a few changes to suit our tastes and my pantry contents. I baked them 3 times now.

Shahi Ande

From the time Radhika announced her Mughlai Event I know that there is one cuisine that I have not posted as yet the Mughlai cusine. In fact from the time I have become conscious of the middle age spread I have stopped making Mughlai cusine for the food is rich. But there are exceptions and here is one of them.

Respecting my FIL’s sentiments I generally do not cook eggs. But when he is out of station we eat live and drink eggs.

Dates Ladoo ~A Blog Hop & An Award

Variety is the spice of life and Blog Hop adds to it.

As this is where you try out dishes from your partner’s blog to suit your palate the idea is Radhika’s brain child.

How does Blog Hop add to variety? Well I go through my partner’s posts in greater detail so in this sense I am coming to know newer likeminded people. All of us are connected through our love for food and serve a better variety with love.

Coffee Chocolate Pudding~A Sweet Punch

Sweet Punch for November was CoffeeChocolate Pudding!!

All my favourites in one Yummmmmmmmmm! 

You bet I have baked this pudding twice already. The pudding needs to be served with ice-cream  but both the times we have not had it with ice cream as one of the girls seem to be having a cold. 

Milkmaid Chocolate Barfi

For Diwali I made Milkmaid ChocolateBarfi!

Anything with chocolate & I am the best mom that the world has so I set about making this one.

 I also spoke to my SIL asking her why we have not made in ages.  Even she was at a loss but she encouraged me remake as I confessed that I had not made anything for Diwali and everything was store brought.

Doodhi Halwa or Bottle Gourd Halwa

I have already talked about my family lack of sweet tooth so many times that you must be all bored. But that does not stop me from trying out new recipes or reinventing the old ones now that I have found appreciative ‘Bakaras  & Bakaris’ at work!! :)

For Duserra I decided to make Doodhi Halwa or as it is known as in Goa “Konkan Doodhi Halwo”! 

Now Doodhi or bottle gourd has a lot of health benefits (check here) as     Ramdev Baba has kept telling us so hubby dear has stopped grumbling when I buy it. Thanks a lot Baba because of you I have tried many ways of including this veggie in our diet masking it many a times.

Believe me I have used it in Thalipeeth, Pav bhaji, Kofta, Paratha, even tried chutney!! Now the girls have stopped guessing what I am upto.

 I have it the day Apeksha will decide that she wants to learn cooking the cat will be out of the bag and I will tumble like nine pins! Guess each dog has its own day and I have had mine.

Black & White Wednesday & Mattar Paneer~Blog Hop# 5

For today's blog hop I am paired with Radhika of Tickling Palates and the brain behind the wonderful Blog Hop.

Radhika has a number of exiting recipes and I have bookmarked quite a few recipes. In fact I made this delicious Mattar Paneer (click here for the link) last Wednesday when it was "Avidhwa Navami".

Kheer/Payasa with Dodhi/Bottle Gourd & Sago

I have brought a bottle gourd. It was the smallest and the tenderest one the bhajiwala had but was still big enough to fill to big Tupperware boxes when cubed. I made bhaji once but then since I wanted a change I decided to make kheer/payasa.

This could also be because the boys in the opposite cubicle at work were discussing how make kheer out of bottle gourd. They, very authoritatively told me 2 methods one the regular with milk and another with coconut milk. They were insiatant that I use sago or sabudana which I never use.  I am sure both don’t even know where the kitchens at home are but their passionate cooking without flame here in office made me make this kheer,  With milk will try the coconut milk one later. I was supposed to carry it to work but I plain forgot. It’s still in the fridge. 

The ingredients used are approximate.

Ingredients:

1 cup bottle gourd, peeled and cubed to fine pieces

1 tblspn ghee

Few cashew nuts

2 tblspn sago or sabudana, soaked in ¼ cup water

½ cup sugar

¾ litre milk

4 elichi/ cardamom

Few strands of saffron (optional)

Method:

1.       Heat a steel bowl on the gas. When it is hot switch off the gas and drop the saffron strands in it. The strands shrivel add a tblspn or two of milk and keep aside.

2.      Heat the ghee and fry the cashew nuts till golden. Drain and keep aside.

3.       In the same ghee add the bottle gourd and stir fry till the cubes are translucent.

4.       Add the milk, soaked sabudana with the water and bring to boil. Boil till the bottle gourd is well cooked.

5.      Add sugar and continue boiling for a few minutes.

6.      Add the cardamom powder, saffron strands, cashew nuts mix well and switch off the gas.

7.      Serve hot or chilled. Plain or with chapatti or poori.

Sending this to  Radhika's Let’s Cook ~ Scrumptious Breakfasts

Mom Chef's event (Vrat ka Khaana) 

“Bibbe Che Bhaji” or “Biya Bhaji” the traditional way!

Finally after a long time I have followed a recipe to the last possible instructions.

When I posted “Bibbe Che Bhaji” in Makkhani gravy Rupali from RecipeGrabBag asked me if I have the traditional recipe.I decided to ask the Expert-- Kaki, my husband’s best friend’s mother.

Bibbe che Bhaji or Cashew Nut Vegetable

Goa has a lot of cashew plantations and this is the season when the cashew nut is harvested.  So we have a lot of fresh cashew nuts coming in the market. They are called “Bibbe” in the local language and sold by numbers.

Oats Chikki/Granola

Oats Chikki/granola

I had some muesli about which I had plans to convert to granola but postponing. As a result it started racing fast to it expiry date and now being on leave, I decided to do something to stem the rot.

The firs thing I did was heated it lightly in a kadhai to give it some crispness. Then I let it cool.

Meanwhile I got out my hoard of dry fruits after stealthy glance all around to see if anyone is watching me. Grab a few almonds; pistachios it does not matter how many will count later.

 At a leisurely pace I got out my cashew nuts, walnuts , raisins, groundnuts warmed them up too just to get rid of the raw  nutty ( I like the smell but I need to get rid of the moisture from them after storing them in the fridge).

In  Goa we get different kinds of cashew nuts right from the big ones whole, the ones split into two  or which is broken bits tukda kaju, to  the smallest bit Kani ,that can be directly used in Kheers no need to make smaller pieces . I generally buy this and use it for grinding into curries as they are cheapest and cost efficient.

Since I do not have good honey and was reluctant to use sugar I used chikki jaggery that is beckoning me everyday to do something different out of it.

These measure are by no means standard you can adjust as per taste, needs and budget.

To sum up I used:

Muesli  or rolled oats (about 500 grams)

 20 almonds,

15 pistachios

About cup full of Kaju kani

¼ cup raisins  

½ cup of groundnuts.

½ cup of roasted til/sesame seeds

I used 215 grms of this jaggery cut into small bits

½ cup of homemade ghee

Method:

1.       As I have already said warm everything right from the muesli to the nuts.

2.       When they cool down coarse grind.

3.       At this point of time I started wondering about the quantity of the ground mixture I had so I weighed it. It measured 750 grms I used   580 grams should have used only 500.

4.       In a thick kadhai add the ghee and jaggery.

5.       The jaggery will melt and start boiling. Test it to see if it has reached the hard ball stage. (A drop of jaggery in cold water should form a hard rock when pressed).

6.       Add the muesli 500 grams only or as much as much as needed to form 1 lump and mix and stir fast. Transfer to the kitchen platform and roll out to the ½ inch thick roti.  Cut when cool to desires size and shapes.

7.       Store in an airtight container.

I made the mistake of adding too much of muesli and so my granola/chikki  would not set.  So to rectify matters I transferred it to a tray and baked it at 230°C for 10minutes.