Gawar Phali ki Sabzi | Guwar Phali nu shak | Gujarati Shak | Cluster beans curry

Guwar phali is something that I relish with Gujarati dal and Phulka Rotli!! Naturally Guwar phali doesn't have a pleasing flavor, but add to it 2 secret super flavors and the resulting healthy curry is bursting with flavors!! Miss adding them and you have food fit for cows ;)

I had a rather interesting mis adventures with this sabzi during my second job. Two of my colleagues (& friends) and I were sharing a home and kitchen. It was a last day of job for one of our roomie and she decided to surprise us with some cooking. 

She was generally dis interested in cooking and related chores but that day as a gesture of farewell she wanted to cook something for us. So she went ahead and cut the only sabzi we had in stock  - Guwar phali!! She also kneaded the dough!! But there were a few catches.. The dough was too sticky to roll and the she had used up all the flour!! We didn't have garlic and carom seeds  - the 2 secret flavors needed to make the tasty guwar phali curry!! After she realized the mess we were in, she decided to wake us up and share the news!! Needless to say we had one of the worst meal of our lives, but at the same time we had one of the hardest laugh of our lives :) Sometimes bad food too can create good memories ;)

So without further ado, here is the healthy, tasty, quick and vegan curry with 2 secret flavors ;)

Ingredients:

250 gms Cluster beans (Guwar Phali) - stringed and cut inch long

1/2 teaspoon green chili and ginger paste 

4 garlic cloves - peeled and crushed (Lahsun / Lasan)

1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds ( Sarson/rai)

1/4 teaspoon carom seeds (Ajwain)

2 Tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon besan (Chick pea flour)

pinch of hing

1.5 teaspoon dhania jeera powder (Cumin corrinader seeds powder)

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi)
1 teaspoon sugar (otpional - but I like it)

Method:

1) Pressure cook Guwar Phali.

2) Now in a kadai (pan), take oil and heat it. Add mustard seeds to it. Once they crackle add carom seeds and hing.

3) Now add besan (chick pea flour) and Pressure cooked Guwar Phali sans water.

4) Add salt, dhania jeera powder, green chili ginger garlic paste and turmeric powder. Mix well.

5) Let it cook till all the water evaporates and masala is coated well to the phali. Add sugar if using..

Serve with daal and roti.. From leftover you can also make guwar dhokli (shaak ma dhokli) something that I am crazy about!!

+techie ZM 

Punjabi Aalu Gobi Sabji | Aloo Gobhi Curry | Alu Gobi Adaraki | Potato Cauliflower Curry

Zini has finally started formal school!! Now she goes to school in a bus wearing uniform!! Today she even got homework!! Makes me realize that my little girl is growing big!! Thankfully she likes the school and has made a friend whom she was seen hugging today!! Touchwood..
So now I am back to having some free time. Hence here is the recipe of Punjabi Alu Gobi ki sabji that I made today. My hubby is a very fussy eater. There are very few vegetables that he likes to eat and thankfully Alu Gobi is one of them. It is one of Zini's favorite too!! As a result I make this curry every week!!
Why I like it? It's so easy to cut and clean and gets cooked in a jiffy. It is also flavorful, delicious, healthy and naturally vegan!! If you are averse to potatoes then you can replace it with peas or can altogether skip it. During my Hyderabad days, I was very thankful for Aalu Gobhi as it came in handy in morning rush hour!! So if you are in hurry but want to eat something tasty yet healthy, go for this simple curry..

Punjabi Alu gobi curry

Punjabi Alu Gobi curry

Ingredients:

Cauliflower (Phool Gobi) - 1 medium sized

2 Medium sized potatoes

finely cut ginger (Adrak) - 1/8 teaspoon

2 Tablespoon oil

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi)

Salt to taste

1/4 teaspoon red chili powder (lal mirch powder)

2 teaspoon Coriander seeds powder (Dhania Powder)

Method:

1) Wash and cut Cauliflower in florets, remove stems. Soak in salted water to get rid of germs if any.

2) Peel and cut potatoes of almost the same size as the cut cauliflower florets.

3) In a thick bottomed Kadai (Wok), take oil and heat it. Add finely cut ginger to it, let it brown a little.

4) Now add the cauliflower (sans water) and potatoes to the wok.

5) Add salt and turmeric powder, mix well.

6) Cover and cook for around 15-20 minutes. Keep stirring in between, esp if you wok is not thick bottomed / non stick.

7) Once the cauliflower and potatos are about to get cooked (are about to get mushy), add red chili powder and Coriander powder. Mix well.
8) Cover and cook for 5 more minutes.

Serve with rotis..

Notes:

1) You can increase or decrease the amount of red chili powder as per your liking.
2) In case you don't have coriander powder, replace it with coriander - cumin powder or curry powder (garam masala) in reduce amount.
3) You can replace potatoes with peas, or totally skip it.

Punjabi Alu gobi curry

Punjabi Alu Gobi curry

+techie ZM 

Punjabi Lauki Kofta Curry | Lauki ka Kofta | Doodhi Kofta| Bottle gourd kofta in red gravy | No meat balls in red gravy | Low Calorie Koftas

It's Zini's vacation time again and it makes me think that she is perpetually on vacation!! One of the side effects of having her at home all the time is that I can't really blog or photograph much. But today she went to her friend's place and I immediately clicked the photos of this curry I had made for lunch..
Talking about this curry, it's really simple yet satisfying curry.. Something that is liked by almost all the Punjabis I've met (and I've met quite a few including my hubby :) ).. And what more it goes well with rotis and rice!! In case you don't have bottle gourd, you can substitute it with Zucchini or Courgette.
It's comparatively healthy and a great way to eat your lauki AKA bottle gourd. Before hubby started eating Muthiya, Handvo and Thepla, this was the only way he consumed his bottle gourds...
I am sharing our day to day no frills recipe that I learnt from my MIL, if you want you can make it rich by adding cream to the gravy and potato/bread to the koftas..

Lauki Kofta | No meat balls | Low calorie koftas

Lauki Kofta | No meat balls | Low calorie koftas

Ingredients:

For gravy
2 big onions
2 medium sized tomatoes
1 green chili
1/4 teaspoon ginger paste
3-4 garlic cloves peeled
1/4 teaspoon garam masala (curry powder - in case you don't have it mix black pepper, cloves, corriander seeds, a little cardamom powder, star anise and cumin seeds and churn in mixer to get yours)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
salt to taste
1 tablespoon oil

For koftas
1 medium sized bottle gourd peeled and grated (If you don't have a bottle gourd then use Zuchhini or Courgette)
3-4 tablespoon besan (garbanzo bean flour/ chick pea flour)
salt to taste
1/8 teaspoon red chili powder
pinch of hing (Traditional recipe doesn't call for this, but I add hing to anything that has besan)
Oil for deep frying or shallow frying

Method:

For Koftas (no meat balls)
1) Squeeze water out of the grated bottle gourd.
2) Add besan (chick pea flour), salt, red chili powder and turmeric powder and hing to it. Mix well.
3) Make small lemon sized balls and deep fry in hot oil in a wok. If you don't want to deep fry then you can alternatively use pancake popper/ Paniyaram pan to get the balls. Or you can shallow fry them like cutlets on a tawa/skillet.
4) Take out on a tissue paper and let them cool down.

For gravy
1) In a mixer or food processor, churn onions, tomatoes, green chili, ginger and garlic to get a paste.
2) In a kadai (wok), take oil and heat it. Add the prepared paste to it and mix well.
3) Keep cooking (and in between stirring) till all the water evaporates and the oil separates.
4) Now add garam masala (Curry powder) and turmeric powder. Mix well.
5) Cook for 1 minute while stirring continuously.
6) Add 1 cup water, mix well and add salt to taste.
7) Let it boil. You can add koftas if serving immediately.

Assemble it when ready to serve otherwise the koftas will get soggy.
To Assemble
1) Heat the gravy and add the prepared koftas to the gravy.
2) Let them cook for 7-10 minutes. Don't stir vigorously, else your koftas will break.

Notes:
1) You can adjust masalas as per your taste. If you like it spicy, add red chili powder. If you are not a fan of hot food, taper down chili (Green/red).
2) As I said, you can make more rich version with cream and potatoes/bread.

Lauki Kofta | No meat balls | Low calorie koftas

Lauki Kofta | No meat balls | Low calorie koftas

Lauki Kofta | No meat balls | Low calorie koftas

+techie ZM