My cooking has changed a lot in last couple of months. I tend to make more simpler dishes these days. In a day, I get about 30mins-1hr sometimes to cook. Whenever I cook, I try to make it in more quantity and eat left overs next day. But there are some days when we crave for something special. Last week, we had one such day. After Ishaan went to bed, I stepped into kitchen thinking what to make. I wanted something masaledar . I checked in fridge and saw few vegetables, begging to be used. So I started putting together this dish. Final outcome was very very delicious, thick gravy – somewhat on the lines of butter chicken . We had it for dinner and next day at lunch.
Ingredients: 1 cup each of capsicum(bell pepper), potatoes, cauliflower 2 tbl spn cashews 1/2 cup onion 1 tea spn kasoori methi 1 tea spn garam masala 1 tea spn chilli powder 1/2 cup tomato 1 tea spn cumin seeds 1 tea spn ginger paste 1 tea spn garlic paste Oil Salt
Method: Heat two cups water and add cashews, 1/4 cup onion and tomatoes. Cook for few minutes. Grind to smooth paste. Heat oil and add cumin seeds. When they start popping, add onion, ginger-garlic paste and fry for few minutes. Add all the vegetables, chilli powder, garam masala, salt. Mix well. Cover and let it cook on a low heat for few minutes (add little water if required). Add kasoori methi, mix well. Now add the cashew paste. Cook till it starts boiling and gets thick. Serve with rotis/chapatis or flavored rice .
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 25mins
Pictorial:
This is a simple shrimp gravy that I tried couple of months ago. My parents were here at that time and they used to take care of cooking, baby and everything else around home. I wanted to give some rest to them and so decided to cook something. This is what I came up with. This is inspired by my aayi’s sungta ambat . I wanted to give a slight different taste to it, so I used a paste of onion and tomato.
Ingredients: 1/2 lb shrimp 1 cup onion (for paste) + 1/4 cup finely chopped onion 1 cup tomato 5-6 curry leaves 4 cloves 1″ cinnamon 1 tbl spn chopped ginger 1 tbl spn chopped garlic 2 tbl spn fresh/frozen coconut 4 red chillies 1 tea spn coriander seeds 3 green chillies A pinch turmeric Oil Salt
Method: Heat oil and add coriander seeds. When they are fried, add onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies, cinnamon, cloves and fry till the onions turn translucent. Add red chillies, coconut, tomatoes, salt and cook till tomatoes turn mushy. Grind to a paste. Heat oil and add curry leaves and onion. Fry till the onions are translucent. Add shrimp, turmeric and fry for 2-3mins. Pour in the ground masala, add enough water to bring it to gravy consistency and cook till the gravy starts boiling.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 30mins
Pictorial:
