Kala Chana nu shaak | Desi Chana | Black Chickpea recipe | Healthy Protein packed vegan meal | Dry Kala Chana

This Gujarati kala chana nu shaak is one of my favorites!! It is so easy, so healthy yet so tasty!! I enjoy making it and I love eating it!! It can give you a healthy dose of protein.. The combination of this kala chana curry the way my mom makes it with kadhi and bhakhri is simple yet deliciously filling!

It tastes good on it's own too. This is just a little different than Kondakadlai Sundal (Chana Sundal)..
The day your fridge is empty or your energy level is low, make this simple gluten free & vegan curry and see your mood soar!! Just don't forget to soak it overnight :)

In north India this simple chana are made on the 8th day of Navratri festival (Kanjak) and offered to young girls, considered as Goddesses, along with halwa & puris!! Delicious!! My little girl and her papa loves it with Puri (puffed Indian bread) and that is how it is often eaten at my place!!
Sometimes I make a healthy chane ki chaat by adding finely cut onions, tomatoes, chaat masala and green chutney to it!

Kala Chana | Deshi Chana | Black Chickpea curry | Healthy protein packed vegan meal

Kala Chana | Deshi Chana | Black Chickpea curry | Healthy protein packed gluten free meal

Ingredients:

1 Cup Kala chana / Deshi Chana / Black Chickpeas soaked for at least 8 hours.
Salt to taste
1/ teaspoon Green Chilli and ginger paste (Adjust according to taste)
1.5 teaspoon dhania jeera powder (Cumin coriander seeds powder)
1/2 wedge of lemon (Optional - but I love adding it)
2 tablespoon oil
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds / rai/ sarson
pinch of hing

Method:

1) Pressure cook Chana (chick peas) with salt till tender. It's really important to cook it properly. To check if it is properly cooked, take a cooked chana and squeeze it between your thumb and a finger. It should squeeze easily. If it doesn't then you should cook it further.
2) In a kadai (pan/wok) heat 2 tablespoon of oil and add mustard seeds (rai) to it.
3) Once rai (mustard seeds) crackle, add a pinch of hing to it.
4) To this immediately add properly cooked chana without water.
5) Add green chilli and ginger paste and dhania jeera powder and mix well.
6) Let it cook for 5-10 minutes, or till no water is visible.

Squeeze lemon juice before serving.

Kala Chana | Deshi Chana | Black Chickpea curry | Healthy protein packed vegan meal

+techie ZM

Bhindi ki Sabzi | Punjabi Sabji | Stir Fried Okra curry | Ladies finger curry | Cutting and cleaning bhindi

Bhindi AKA Okra is the most favorite curry at home! My love for this green veggie is the talk of our family (& my work places). At my first job, everyday someone or the other would bring bhindi. It was a big office and I virtually knew everybody and everybody knew me!! So every day at lunch hour I would get a call telling me that there is bhindi, "Aavi jao" (Come over)!! My grandma too fanned my love for bhindi by making it everyday during my vacations!!

Thankfully hubby too has a great liking for it. So needless to say, our offspring too takes after us on this matter!! The result - Bhindi every week in the season!! Though the bhinda nu shaak that I grew up on was a little different than the version my hubby grew up on. I make both versions and like them both, when it comes to bhindi I don't discriminate ;) . The one I am sharing today is Punjabi version as my MIL makes it.. It is vegan, gluten free and paleo! Simple, quick and yummy!! Check it out..

Punjabi Bhindi Curry | Okra Stir Fry

Ingredients:

500 gms Bhindi/ okra/ ladies finger, washed, wiped and cut into half inch length

1 big or 2 medium sized onions, peeled and cut into long slices

Salt to taste

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/4 teaspoon red chili powder (you can adjust according to your taste, we don't eat too spicy/hot food)

1 teaspoon dhania powder/ coriander seeds powder (I use dhania jeera powder/ coriander cumin seeds powder as I normally have this in stock) 

2 tablespoon oil

Method:

1) Heat oil in a thick bottomed kadai (wok/pan).

2) Now add onions to it, let them turn translucent. Keep stirring.

3) Once they turn translucent, add cut bhindi/okra to the kadai (wok).

4) Mix well. Let it cook uncovered for 10 minutes.

5) Now add turmeric and salt. mix well and cover. If your kadai/wok/pan is not thick bottomed, keep a tawa/ skillet under it.

6) Let it cook covered for 15 more minutes. Keep stirring in between.

7) Once the bhindi cooks, add dhania jeera powder (coriander cumin seeds powder) and red chili powder.

8) Mix well and cook for 5 more minutes.

I love bhindi with kadhi or dal. Though along with curd and roti they fulfilling and healthy meal.

Notes:

1) It's very important to wipe the okra/bhindi. If you skip this step, it will be slimey and not so appetizing. If planning to make it in the morning then you can wash bhindi at night and cover it with a dry kitchen towel. Next day spread them on another dry towel under fan. They will dry out fast and then you can skip wiping them!

2) While cutting okra/bhindi check for mature (pakat/ gharda) bhindi. You should discard them as they won't get cooked. They are generally big and difficult to cut. To verify further, try to snap it in two by bending it. If it doesn't snap then it is indeed mature and needs to be discarded.

3) Remove the dincha (top) of the bhindi as it won't cook.

Punjabi Bhindi Curry | Okra Stir Fry

Punjabi Bhindi Curry | Okra Stir Fry

+techie ZM 

Dal Tikki | How to make moong daal tikki | Leftover Green grams recipe | Indian pancakes

What happens when you have left over moong dal from the night and in no mood to make parathas for breakfast?! You google and zero in on a dal tikki recipe!! But what happens when you have a peanut sized memory?! You can't remember the recipe when you finally get making it (except for the fact that it had moong dal and may be besan in it) and then you come up with something that will be made in house forever as you and your family loved it!!

Yeah, this is what happened to me few months back, but as I was very busy, couldn't share the recipe.. Finally sharing it now!! It is so amazingly crispy and yummy, even the biggest moong dal haters (my hubby) love it!! It gives a protein packed start to your day and is so healthy!! These tikkis are naturally vegan, gluten free and low on oil (& calories too)!!

You can make this from any other leftover dal/sambhar too!! Check your fridge, do you have any leftover? then get making this!!
Oh and in case you don't have leftover and still want to make it then just pressure cook split green gram ( dhuli moong dal - mogar) with salt, turmeric and red chili powder and use it.

Before that have a look at how crispy and yummy and heavenly golden they look like!!

Ingredients:

1 cup leftover moong daal (cooked) - Any other dal will do too, adjust as per available leftover dal!!
2 Tablespoon of besan (Chick pea flour)
1 teaspoon green chili, ginger and garlic paste
2 tablespoon Idli rava (rice semolina) - if you don't have this then use regular semolina/ sooji/ rawa
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4 teaspoon chaat masala (Optional)
pinch of hing (Asafoetida - optional)
1 small onion finely cut
1 small tomato finely cut
Any other veggie that you want to sneak in (it should cook fast)
Oil for shallow frying

Method:

1) Mix everything in a mixing bowl.
2) Heat a non stick tawa/ skillet / griddle. Once it is hot enough grease it with oil.
3) Make small tikki (flat pancake) shapes in your palms and drop them on the tawa.
4) Let it cook thoroughly on one side, once it cooks flip it and cook thoroughly on other side too. You can make 2-3 tikkis (or as much as your tawa/ skillet can take) at a time.

Serve hot with green chutney or tomato ketchup!! This also makes for a great snack, starter or lunch box food!!

If you want to use even less oil then you can make these cuties in pancake popper (paniyaram pan / appa patra/ aebleskiver pan)!! I am happy to report that I've tried that and it too tastes great!!

Dal tikki | Indian pancakes

Dal tikki | Indian pancakes

+techie ZM 

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 

Capsicum Potato curry | Aalu Shimla Mirch Sabzi | Quick Bell Pepper Curry

This is one more curry that I learnt from my MIL. It's quick, it's easy and it's tasty!! I love it as it's quick to make and is healthy..
It gives such a relief on a busy day when you can just throw in the ingredients in the pan and go about doing your job, while this tasty curry gets cooked in jiffy!! It is vegan and paleo!! With Raita and rotis it makes for a filling meal and of course it's healthy. It can also be used as stuffing in sandwiches!! Yumm...

Capsicum Potato Curry | Alu Shimla Mirch | Quick Capsicum Curry

Capsicum Potato Curry | Alu Simla Mirch | Quick Capsicum Curry

Ingredients:

1 big Capsicum (Bell Pepper/ Shimla Mircha) - cubed

1 big Potato - cubed

1 medium sized tomato -cubed

1 Onion - cut in long slices

1 Tablespoon oil

pinch of jeera (Cumin seeds)

salt to taste

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/5 teaspoon dhania jeera powder (Cumin Corriander seeds powder)

1/4 teaspoon red chili powder (you can adjust this according to your taste)

Method:

1) In a thick bottomed kadai/ wok (or in a non stick pan) take oil and heat it. Add jeera (cumin seeds). Once the jeera turnes brown, add onions and saute.

2) Once the onions turn translucent add capsicum (Shimla mirch / bell pepper) and saute for 2 minutes.

3) Now add potatoes, salt, turmeric powder, red chili powder, dhania jeera powder ( cumin corriander seeds powder) and mix well.

4) Cover and let it cook till potatoes become tender. Keep stirring between to ensure that the curry is not sticking to the bottom of the pan. If curry starts sticking then reduce the gas flame and put a tawa (skillet/griddle) under the kadai/ wok.

5) Once potatoes get cooked, add tomatoes to the curry and mix well.

6) cover and cook for 4-5 minutes and your curry is ready...

Capsicum Potato curry | Aalu Shimla Mirch Sabzi | Quick Bell Pepper Curry

Capsicum Potato curry | Aalu Shimla Mirch Sabzi | Quick Bell Pepper Curry

Capsicum Potato curry | Aalu Shimla Mirch Sabzi | Quick Bell Pepper Curry

+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

Methi Dal | Lentil soup with fenugreek leves

I had this healthy and delicous daal first time in office canteen. I really like how healthy yet tasty it is. It also has all the qualities of a comfort food. What more, it goes well with rice or roti!!
But as I've shared before I was hardly interested in cooking while I was working full time. So never asked my colleagues who knew how to make it.
But after shifting to Noida, I've been missing this simple fare a lot. And one afternoon I decided to make it. I could have called my colleagues to get the authentic recipe, but I remembered that it was the weekly meeting time for them and I HAD to cook the daal. So I decided to just guess the recipe and make it..
This is by no means the authentic Andhra methi daal recipe, but it is delicious, healthy and gets ready in jiffy!!
Oh and the measurements are all eye balled. But that won't harm the taste of this simple daal much..

Methi Daal | Lentil soup with fenugreek

Ingredients:

1 cup Toor daal (Arhar daal / pigeon pea split)
1 onion finely cut
1 tomato finely cut
1 cup methi (fenugreek) leaves, cleaned, chopped and washed properly
1 sprig of kari patta (mitho limdo)
2 teaspoon oil
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds (rai, sarson)
1 pinch asofoetida (hing)
salt to taste
1 teaspoon green chili, ginger and garlic paste
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon dhania jeera powder (Cumin and coriander seeds powder)
1/2 teaspoon sambaar masala ( South Indian curry powder)

Method:
1) Wash the daal and soak it for 30 minutes. Then pressure cook it till tender.
2) Meanwhile in a pan take oil on medium heat. Add mustard seeds to it.
3) Once it crackles, add kari patta and hing. Then add green chili ginger and garlic paste.
4) Add onions and saute till it turns translucent. Then add methi leaves. Cover the pan and cook till methi cooks too.
5) Now add tomatoes and cook till tomatoes get cooked.
6) Add dhania jeera powder, turmeric and sambar masala. Mix well.
7) Now add the cooked daal to the mixture. Mix well.
8) Adjust water and add salt to taste.
9) Let it boil on medium flame for 10-15 minutes. keep an eye on it..

Enjoy with rice or roti.. I would recommend adding a dollop of ghee to it :)

+techie ZM 

Gaajar no Sambharo | Carrots Stir Fry Gujarati Style

This quick, yummy and healthy stir fry comes in handy on the days when you are hard pressed for time yet want to eat something healthy.
Have with roti and curd and you have a healthy meal ready in jiffy!! Though at my place it was treated more like a salad than a curry. But now a days I don't mind having it is on my mains..
Make some before those delicious carrots disappear...

Gajar no Sambharo | Quick Carrots Stir fry

Gajar no Sambharo | Quick Carrots Stir fry

Gajar no Sambharo | Quick Carrots Stir fry

Ingredients:

5 Carrots peeled and grated
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon oil for tadka
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 green chili, slit
pinch of asafoetida (hing)
Juice of 1/2 a lemon (Optional)

Method:
1) Heat oil on medium flame in a pan.
2) Add mustard seeds to it. Let them crackle.
3) Once they crackle add asafoetida and green chili to it.
4) Let the chili fry properly and then add the grated carrot.
5) Add turmeric powder and salt. Mix well.
6) Cook on high flame for 4-5 minutes. Keep stirring continuously.

And your gajar no sambharo is ready!! Squeeze half a lomon in it if you wish, mix well and eat!!

Gajar no Sambharo | Quick Carrots Stir fry

Gajar no Sambharo | Quick Carrots Stir fry

+techie ZM