I love babycorn in any dish. Many years ago when I lived in Bangalore, I cooked with it whenever I could. But in last 8 years or so, I have not seen fresh babycorn here in Kansas. I heard it is available in some stores here, but I have never seen it. I am not a fan of canned vegetables, I avoid it as much as possible, so I never buy canned babycorn. So you can imagine how happy I was when I found some fresh ones in Bangalore during my India trip. I immediately bought it. Then I remembered this dish I had tasted at V’s mama’s place few years ago. This is a very nice twist to chana masala.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup chickpeas 1/2 cup chopped babycorn 1/2 cup onion 2 tea spns fresh ginger-garlic paste 1 tea spn chilli powder 1 tea spn garam masala OR kitchen king masala A pinch turmeric 2 tbl spn chopped coriander leaves 1/2 cup tomato Oil Salt
Method: Soak chickpeas for atleast 4-5hrs.
Make this directly in a pressure cooker or a vessel that can be kept in the cooker.
Heat oil and fry onions, ginger-garlic paste. Add salt to onions to help break them faster. Add tomatoes, turmeric, chilli powder, masala powder and fry till tomatoes are mushy.
Now add chickpeas, babycorn, 1/2 cup water, coriander leaves. Cook in pressure cooker till done (if using canned chickpeas and babycorn, just one whistle should be enough). Serve hot with chapatis.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 30mins
PS: I noticed that chickpeas takes a bit longer when cooked with all the spices. So you could either cook them before adding to spices or use the canned ones to prepare this dish faster.
I get many requests to post kid friendly recipes. Ishaan starting eating what we eat from a very young age. There are many things that he does not want to touch – like most of the vegetables. But I always serve him everything that I have prepared. I give him very small quantities, sometimes I ask him to serve food by his own. He tries a little bit some days and other days he does not want to do anything with the vegetables. I am hoping, he will soon start trying new things. He is more open to pastas though. So I experiment a lot with different pastas and pasta sauces.
I have always loved Ravioli . So I introduced it to Ishaan and he loved it too. I usually buy these from the frozen section of grocery stores. I have tried raviolis with different fillings – like cheese, winter squash etc. I am not sure how he will like the spinach filling, yet to try that. I normally buy Ravioletti – which are miniature versions of Raviolis. I make the sauce at home by adding lot of veggies. When he was much younger, he would pick up the green bits from the sauce and throw them down. Now he does not mind them anymore. I use the same sauce for spaghetti also. He loves to serve himself and add the parmesan cheese on top :). The measurements are approximates only. Change them according to your choice. Sometimes I make this sauce in big batch and freeze some to use later.
Ingredients: 2-3 big tomatoes or 1 can tomato paste 1/2 cup zucchini grated 1/2 cup green bell pepper (capsicum) cut into small pieces 1/2 tea spn dried basil or 6-7 fresh leaves 1/4 tea spn black pepper 1/2 tea spn chopped garlic Olive oil/butter Spaghetti/Ravioli Oil Parmesan cheese
Method:
Blanch the tomatoes – bring a pot of water to boil, add the tomatoes. Remove the skin and blend to a smooth paste. You can also use canned tomato paste. Heat oil/butter and add all chopped and grated vegetables, garlic. Cook till they become soft.
Now add the tomato paste, basil, pepper, salt. Let it cook covered for 3-4 mins.
Cook Ravioli or Spaghetti in salted water according to package instructions. Add them to the sauce. Serve hot topped with Parmesan cheese. I also add some pieces of butter for the kid.
Preparation time : 20mins
