When I was doing my Bachelors in Belgaum, I tasted soya chunks for the first time. We used to get our lunch/dinner from a local “mess” (small restaurant). These soya chunks tasted like cotton and I hated it. But when I went to Bangalore, after my Bachelors, my brother always mentioned about soya chunks. He said it tasted like meat (chicken/mutton). From my previous experiences, I was not very comfortable trying it again.
When I started visiting food blogs, I saw many recipes with soya chunks, but still I ignored them. Few months back, Aruna sent me this recipe. So I thought it is finally the time to try it. Now I am very happy that I tried this amazing “Vegetarian meat”. As all of you know, soya is supposed to be very good for women(according to a TV channel). It is full of protiens. The other good thing about this recipe is, it has “Kasoori methi”-dry fenugreek leaves. I am a fan of Methi-malai-matar (funugreek with cream and peas), my pachi made this often. But I never tried it. Now that I am comfortable using Kasoori methi, I can try Malai matar also.
Here is what Aruna has to say about this dish, “I have made this many times before, but have used cut onions and tomatoes or made a paste of ginger garlic onions and tomatoes, but somehow I liked the one I made today very much. The above gravy tastes like a restaurant gravy. Somebody had told me the secret of good restaurant food is, they blanch the onions and tomatoes and add cashewpaste or almond paste and use cream. So I tried this today”. Thanks Aruna.
Ingrediants: Soya chunks 2 cups Onion 1 big Tomatoes 2 Ginger garlic paste 1/2 tea spn Butter 1 tea spn Kasoori methi 1 tbl spn Turmeric a pinch Red chili powder 1/2 tea spn Garam masala 1/2 tea spn Whipped cream 2 tea spn Salt
I have reduced the amount of spices and ginger-garlic in this to suit my taste. If more gravy is required, increase the amount of onion and tomatoes. Instead of cream, I used 1/2 cup milk.
Method. Wash and pressure cook the soya chunks (with water) for one whistle with little salt. Take out the soya chunks, leave it under cold water, wash again and squeeze the water out of them. Heat 1 cup of water and add onion and cook for 5mins. Discard the water and make a paste of onion. Similarly, heat water and cook tomatoes. Discard water, peel the tomatoes and make a paste. Heat butter in a pan and fry onion paste till golden brown for about 10 min. Then add the ginger garlic paste and fry for 2-3 min. Add tomoto paste, mix well and fry for 5 min. Now add the masalas and cook/fry till the oil leaves the sides. Add the soya to the gravy and add enough water to get a thick consistency. Add the kasoori methi and bring it to a boil. Remove from heat and add the cream (I added 1/2 cup of milk instead of cream and boiled it till the gravy became thick). Serve hot with phulkas or naan.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 30mins
PS: I thought some of you might not know about soya chunks. So here is how they look like. They can be easily found in Indian stores. I have the “Bansi” brand “Soya vadi”(no idea why they are called “vadis”).
I am a big fan of crabs from my childhood. My Aayi prepares crab for me and fish for my brother because I am not a fan of fish and he is not a fan of crabs. Now this has continued as my husband has joined my brother’s group. So there are distinct “crab-lovers” and “fish-lovers” groups at home. When we go to restaurants, I always ordered “crab thali” and my brother and hubby ordered “fish thalis”. Well…my sis-in-law keeps changing the group :D.
Aayi always prepared crab gravy . Though I had tasted many crab recipes in restaurants, the gravy was the only dish that I managed to cook. So my “crab” category had only one dish. Recently while I was talking to Deepa , she mentioned this point to me. She said I have to post more recipes in this category. She also gave this “crab fry” recipe to me and asked me to try it.
To tell the truth, I had my own doubts when I saw this recipe. Since the crabs are fried along with the shell, I was wondering how they will get cooked. But then I thought, when Deepa is telling it is so good, I should at least try once. At last after thinking for a long time, I decided to try it. I could not believe it…it was just amazing. Yummy, do not go on my words, just try it yourself and you will know what I am saying . Thanks Deepa for introducing me to this dish.
Ingredients: Cleaned crabs 4-5 Red chili powder 1 tea spn Tamarind extract 1/4 tea spn (Squeeze the thick juice of small line sized tamarind if extract cannot be found) Garlic 3-4 small (use 1-2 if using big ones) Rava (sooji) 2 tbl spns Turmeric a pinch Oil Salt
Ginger can also be added along with garlic to this dish. But I didn’t include it. Only the stomach part is used for the fry. Do not use the legs.
Method: Crush garlic (and ginger if desired). Apply it to crabs along with chili powder, tamarind, turmeric and salt. Leave it for around 1 hr so that the masala seeps in. I marinated it overnight. Heat tava and spread some oil on it. Roll the crabs in sooji(rava) and fry on tava. Close the crabs with a lid. Fry on a low flame. After 5-6 mins, turn them. Take care not to burn. They usually take bit more time than fish fry .
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 20-30mins (excluding marination time)
