I saw this recipe in one of the cooking shows. As usual I had written down but never tried. Few days back, I was going through my recipe diary and I found this. I was not having soaked chana (chick peas) or spinach. But I was not feeling like going to shopping for just two things. So I used potato instead of chick peas and coriander leaves instead of spinach. I haven’t tried the original recipe, but still mentioning here for reference.
Ingredients: 1 cup basmathi rice 1 cup cooked chick peas( chana ) 1 cup or 2 boiled potatoes 2″ piece ginger 2 big cloves of garlic cloves (4-5 if Indian garlic is used) 1 cup onion 3-4 green chilies 1 tea spn lemon juice 1 bay leaf 3/4 cup tomato puree 6-7 strands of coriander leaves ground to smooth paste A pinch of turmeric 2 tbl spns cream(optional) 1/2 tea spn chili powder Oil/ ghee Salt
Method: Heat oil and add bay leaf. Add basmathi rice and fry till a nice aroma comes out of it. Add 2 cups of water, a little salt and cook till rice is done(take care the grains should be separate after cooking). Grind 1″ ginger, garlic, 1/2 cup onion, green chilies, lemon juice into a paste. Add this to mashed chana or potato. Mix well. Make small balls of this mixture and deep fry them in oil (alternatively, bake them in oven like this ). Heat oil and add remaining ginger(grated), finelly chopped onion. Fry till onions turn slightly brownish. Add coriander paste, tomato puree, chili powder, turmeric, cream and salt. Mix well and cook for around 5-10mins or till the gravy thickens. Just before serving, take a serving bowl, spread one layer of rice, then one layer of gravy, followed by one layer of kofta.
Repeat this till all the rice, kofta and gravy is finished. The top layer should be rice. Serve hot.
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 30-40mins
Note: Arrange the layers only few minutes before serving, otherwise the koftas become soft and taste reduces. The potato koftas does not become crunchy since we are not adding anything extra to make them crunchy. While serving, take care not to break the koftas.
Indian Gooseberry is called Amla (Hindi) or Nellikayi (Kannada) or AvaLe (Konkani). HinDi is a kind of pickle. Usually HinDi looks like a chutney . Amla is a rich source of Vitamin C and has many uses in Ayurvedic medicines .
We make two kinds of pickles with Amla . It is also used in many dishes. But at my home, Amla is synonym with AvaLe HinDi . Aayi’s AvaLe HinDi is very very popular among all our relatives. Amla that we get in our place is of very small in size. So we used to order big Amlas from either Mumbai or Belgaum. Then Aayi would make the pickle and give to all the pickle fan relatives.
The most distinguishing feature of this pickle is the fresh green peppers. We have a pepper plant(creeper) at home and the fresh unripe green peppers are used in this pickle. These fresh peppers are not as spicy as the white or black peppers, but these gel well with the bitter-sour taste of Amla .
 Have you ever tasted Amla ?? If yes, have you tried eating it and drinking a glass of water? Same feeling you will get when you eat this pickle and drink water…Its nothing less than heaven :).
I like to eat this pickle with rice, rotis or even with simple bread. I found the Amla in frozen section of Indian store here.
Ingredients: 5-6 big Amlas ( AvaLe or Nellikayi ) 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 1/4 tea spn asafoetida( hingu ) 1/2 tea spn fenugreek( methi ) seeds 1 tea spn chili powder 1 tea spn oil 1/2 tea spn chopped green chilies 1/2 tea spn grated ginger 1 tea spn fresh green unripe pepper Salt
Do not add white or black peppercorns to this pickle. Only green unripe peppercorns can be used for this. If green peppercorns cannot be found, increase the amount of green chilies and ginger for better taste.
Method: Cook Amla with 1 cup water and salt(preferrably use cooker for cooking). Remove the seeds and reserve the pulp. Grind the pulp with mustard, asafoetida, chili powder and 1/4 tea spn fenugreek seeds (Unlike any other pickles, mustard and fenugreek are not fried for this). Water used for cooking Amla can be used for grinding, but do not add more water. Heat oil and fry chilies, ginger, peppercorns(if using), little salt and 1/4 tea spn fenugreek seeds. Add this to the amla paste and mix well. Store in an air tight container in refrigerator. It can be consumed immediately. It remains good for atleast 3-4 months (may be more than that).
Preparation time : 30mins
