Gatte ka Saag

I have spoken endlessly about my love for Rajasthani food. In my post on Mooli Moong Dal, I shared with my plate of Dal Bati Churma that S brought back from Jaipur. While a Rajasthani thali usually has Gatte Ki Kadhi, the one that he brought had Gatte Ka Saag.


I knew, at first bite, that I just had to make this dish at home. After all, once you’ve gotten past the Gattas, there’s precious little that you need to do in order to get this dish ready.


(And I have some news to share: I found Dal Bati Churma in Dilli Haat when I took my parents shopping. So now I know where to go.)


Here is the recipe I used to make Gatte ka Saag at home.


For the Gattas:

3/4 cup Bengal gram flour
1/2 tsp Chilli Powder

1 tsp Fennel seeds

1/8 tsp Ajwain

1 tbsp Curds

2 tbsp Oil

Salt to taste

For the gravy:

2 Onions, ground to a paste
1 tsp Ginger Paste
2 Tomatoes, blanched and pureed
1 tsp Oil

1/4 tsp Cumin Seeds

1 tsp Chilli Powder

½ tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tsp Coriander Powder
¼ tsp Garam Masala

Salt to taste
Coriander Leaves for garnish

For the Gattas:

Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and knead into a firm dough using as little water as necessary. Divide the mixture into eight 3 inch long cylinders.


Heat plenty of water in a vessel and cook the gattas for 8-10 minutes in boiling water. Drain and cut the gattas into half inch pieces.


For the gravy:


Heat oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds. When they crackle, add the onion paste and ginger and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the salt, coriander powder, chilli and turmeric powders and fry for a minute. Add the tomato puree and fry until the oil separates from the mixture. Add ¼ cup of water and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the cut gattas. Add the garam masala and take off the flame. Garnish with the chopped coriander.


This dish tastes great with rice and dal. I haven’t eaten it with chapattis, but I’m sure it would be lovely. Since this keeper recipe has the wonderful taste of fennel, I'm sending it to Ivy of Kopiaste as she hosts Think Spice... Think Twice this month.

Coriander Cauliflower Peas Curry

In winter, our vegetable vendor always sends us back home with loads of coriander. While I made Coriander Saar with these leaves, I decided to try this in a curry. I loved it and I'm sure you all will too. It is interesting to take a green curry to work and have everyone ask:

• Is that saag?
• Is it palak?
• You ground the methi?
• Bathua?

Quite an "Is it a bird? Is it a plane?" kind of situation.

1 cup Cauliflower

1/2 cup Peas

1 cup Coriander Leaves

2 pods Garlic

1" piece Ginger

2 Green Chillies

Salt to taste

1 tsp Oil

1 tsp Cumin Seeds

¼ tsp Asafoetida

Steam the cauliflower and the peas.

Prepare the chutney by grinding the coriander leaves with the garlic, ginger, green chillies and salt together.


Heat the teaspoon of oil and add the cumin seeds and the asafoetida. When the cumin crackles, add the chutney and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add the cauliflower and peas and mix well. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes.

This goes to Mythreyee of Paajaka as she hosts this month's edition of JFI: Cauliflower.

Vegetable Dalia Upma

Tired? Don't feel like making rice/rotis and an entire meal? Here's a quick dish that is light, both physically as well as physiologically. Yes, you guessed it. I am back with another variant of my darling: upma. If you have mixed vegetables in the freezer like I usually do, this meal can be whipped up very quickly.

1 cup Broken Wheat (Dalia)

1 Onion, chopped

1 cup Mixed vegetables, chopped and cooked (I used carrots, peas, potatoes and beans)

1 tbsp Oil

1/2 tsp Urad Dal

1/2 tsp Chana Dal

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

7-8 Curry Leaves

1 Red Chilli

¼ tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tsp Green Chilli paste

1 tsp Ginger Paste

Salt to taste

Coriander Leaves for garnish

Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the urad and chana dals. When the urad dal begins to brown a little, add the mustard and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves, onions, red chilli, ginger and chilli pastes and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the turmeric powder and fry for a minute more. Add the mixed vegetables and the broken wheat and fry the entire mixture for 1-2 minutes. Add 2 cups of boiling hot water and salt to this.

Mix well, cover and cook for 5-7 minutes on a low flame.Mix well, garnish with coriander leaves and enjoy it as a snack or a light meal.

Carrot Dal Soup

In an attempt to make different soups, I keep looking for new combinations. I came across this recipe in the book I've made famous on this blog: Favorite Vegetarian Dishes. I adapted the recipe based on what I had available that night. This is one soup that I am certain I will make again.

2 cups Carrots, sliced

1/2 cup Toor Dal

2 Onions, chopped

2 Tomatoes, chopped

1 tsp Garlic, chopped

2 tsp Oil

1 tsp Cumin-Coriander Powder

1 tsp Green Chilli Paste

1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder

Juice of 1 Lime

1 cup Milk

Salt to taste

Chopped Coriander for garnish

Pressure cook the toor dal, carrots, onions, tomatoes and garlic with 4 cups of water for 3-4 whistles. Blend in a liquidizer when cool.

In a pan, heat the oil. Add the chilli paste, cumin-coriander powder and turmeric powder. Fry for a minute on a low flame. Take off the flame and add the lime juice and salt.

In a vessel, add the blended carrot-dal mixture and the milk. Add a cup of water and the spice mixture. Simmer over low heat for 5-7 minutes. Garnish with the chopped coriander.

Don't get completely lost in the colour of the soup. Remember to enjoy it while hot. Off this goes to dear Aparna as she hosts this month's edition of FIC-Orange.

Mooli Moong Dal

I discovered Rajasthani cooking in a big way last year. It was really thanks to RCI Rajasthan. The real Rajasthani food that I love, I can’t even think of making it at home. I’ve reconciled to the fact that I am better off eating my beloved Daal Baati Churma(in picture below) at a restaurant, most likely the LMB in Jaipur.

I will never understand why Bikanerwala doesn’t think of serving any Rajasthani food. You get the same rotis, paneer, chaat and tandoori food. Not to forget Pizza, Noodles and ChopSuey. Even idli, dosa and uttapam. But nothing remotely Rajsthani.


I discovered that some dishes are perfect for me. They are ready in no time, have very few ingredients, are very tasty and pair equally well with rice and rotis. Here is one such. It is very similar to a kootu.


1 cup White Radish, peeled and diced
½ cup Moong Dal
2 Cloves
1 Bay Leaf
½ tsp Turmeric Powder
¼ tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tsp Green Chilli paste
1 tsp Ginger Paste
¼ tsp Asafoetida
1 tsp Oil
½ tsp Chilli Powder
2-3 tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped
Salt to taste


Heat the oil in a pressure pan. Add the cumin seeds, cloves and bay leaf. When the cumin crackles, add the asafoetida along with the chilli and ginger pastes. Add the chilli powder, moong dal and the radish. Add 2 cups of water with the requisite salt and cook for 2 whistles.


When the pressure is released, open and add the coriander leaves. Mix well.


I am glad to have found one more way to use radish. We had this with some rotis, but I am very sure it would pair well with rice as well.

Vazhaikkai Podimas (Version 2)

There was a time when I had to travel a great deal to lay my hands on plantains/raw bananas. And I think that it was probably easier for me to go to Madras and have Amma make me some vazhaikkai karumadhu or kaela phodiyo than it was to travel from Gurgaon to CR Park to buy certain vegetables. This time around, I find that vegetables are far easier to come by in Gurgaon. And when the local Mother Dairy/Safal outlet inside my apartment complex sells vegetables that I like, I am certain that this city has come a long way.

I made a version of vazhaikkai podimas sometime back. Once I'd finished making it, I realized that this wasn't close to what I'd eaten growing up. My Mami in Bombay used to make a lot of Tamil dishes. And she didn't stop with sambar and rasam. She'd make things like paruppu usli and podimas. Amma didn't make podimas, but my Mami did. I decided to get her recipe and try it. It turned out to be very tasty. I have made it a couple of times since and it never fails to impress.

2 Raw Bananas/Plantains, steamed, peeled and grated

1 tsp Oil

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

1/4 tsp Urad Dal

1.4 tsp Chana Dal

2 Green Chillies, chopped

1 tbsp Coconut, scraped

a Pinch of Turmeric Powder (optional)

Juice of 1 Lime

Salt to taste

Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the urad and chana dals. When the urad dal turns light brown, add the mustard seeds and the asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the green chillies, the turmeric, if using, and the grated bananas. Add the salt and take off the heat. Stir in the lime juice and add the coconut. Mix well.

This makes for a great side with a traditional Tamil lunch. Or you could even eat it as a salad like I do. Either way, it is a keeper recipe.

Gobhi Matar

Do you get excited when you see the price of peas go down? You check one day and it is Rs. 20 a kilo, you check the next day and it is Rs. 10 a kilo. Has that put you in some sort of frenzy? I used to be like that. Today, I get excited when I see the prices come crashing down, but I also figure that I am too lazy to shell peas. An entire kilo of peas yields just about enough for one dish. And I must have mindless senseless TV running in order for me to process this stuff. So, given all this, isn’t frozen better? It appeals so nicely to lazy old me.


But the Safal guys in our complex seem to think otherwise. So, in order to give me the middle path, they sit all day and shell peas. By the time I get home, I can pick a nice bag of fresh green peas. No hassle, no mess, no wastage of time. Given that cauliflower is also a zero fuss vegetable (and that I love the combination of peas and cauliflower), I paired these two one morning in this dish. It tasted great with chapattis.



1 cup Cauliflower florets
1 cup Green Peas
1 Onion
1 Green Chilli
1” piece Ginger
2 pods Garlic
2-3 tbsp Tomato Puree
¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
½ tsp Chilli Powder
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
2 tsp Oil
Salt to taste


Steam the cauliflower and the peas. Grind the onion, chilli, ginger and garlic to a fine paste.


Heat oil in a kadhai. Add the cumin seeds. When they crackle, add the ground paste and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the salt, chilli and turmeric powders and fry for a minute. Add the tomato puree and fry until the oil separates from the mixture. Add ¾ cup of water along with the cauliflower and peas. Bring the mixture to a boil. Garnish with some chopped coriander if you like.

This goes to Mythreyee of Paajaka as she hosts this month's edition of JFI: Cauliflower and to Aparna as she hosts this month's FIC: Orange.

Rainbow on my Plate (Mixed Vegetable Upkari)

Traditions. Sometimes broken, sometimes followed. I don't know which better applies to my cooking. I think I fall somewhere in the middle. Neither here, nor there. There are times when I break every tradition I know and cook something that, quite frankly, doesn't even have a name. And there are times when I follow my mother's (or grandmothers') recipes to a T.

This recipe is one that follows the middle path. One foot in the known, one in the unknown. The desire to make my lunch as colourful as possible is always overwhelming. The desire to experiment cannot be ignored. The desire to use new vegetables in my cooking eggs me on.

I had decided to cook a traditional meal for my parents and S. Yet, I felt the need to show off. So, I made some brinjal menthi kuzhambu (Appa's favourite), paruppu thogayal/thuvayal and this mixed vegetable upkari. The colours of this simple dish were too beautiful to be ignored.

100g Beans, strung and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

100g Carrots, diced

100g Purple Cabbage, chopped
1 tsp Oil
1/4 tsp Urad Dal
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
2 Red Chillies
1/4 tsp Asafoetida (optional)
1 tbsp Coconut, scraped
7-8 Curry Leaves
Salt to taste

Heat oil in a pressure pan. Add the urad dal, mustard seeds and asafoetida(if using). When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves and the red chillies. Fry for a minute. Add the chopped beans, carrots and cabbage. Add some salt along with a little water. Cover and cook for one whistle.

When done, open and cook without the lid to let the excess water evaporate. Add the coconut and mix well.

Mushroom Cheese Melts

I bought a packet of burger buns. I hoped to make cutlets and stuff them inside these buns. As it turned out, I didn't seem to have the time for cutlets. I didn't want to see a bag of 6 burger buns go waste. I also had a packet of mushrooms. I had some sort of a light meal in mind, but I wasn't sure exactly what it was. I experimented with what I had and the fact that I'm posting this here means that it was a great success.

4 Burger Buns, cut in half and toasted lightly

200g Mushrooms, chopped

1 Onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp Garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp Chilli Flakes

1 tsp Thyme

1 tbsp Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

4 tbsp Cheddar Cheese, grated

Heat the olive oil in a pan. Add the garlic, chilli flakes and thyme. Fry for a minute or two. Add the chopped onions and fry till the onions turn translucent. Add the mushrooms, salt and pepper and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Place a little bit of the mushroom mixture on each bun half. Sprinkle a little cheese over the mushroom mixture. Place the bun halves on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese melts.

Serve immediately as a snack or along with some soup to make it a complete meal.

Kothavarangai Paruppu Usli

When I bought cluster beans to make spicy nutty cluster beans, I chopped some of the beans finely, cooked and froze them. Cluster beans are seasonal and I find that it is a task to string them. When I sit down to do it for one dish, I figured I might as well stash away some for later. Because I had cooked beans ready, I was able to make paruppu usli very quickly one night for dinner.

1/2 cup Toor Dal, soaked for 2 hours
1/2 cup Cluster Beans, chopped and steamed
1-2 tsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
7-8 Curry Leaves
2 tsp Oil

Grind the soaked dal to a coarse paste and mix it with the turmeric powder, chilli powder, asafoetida and salt.

Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the mustard seeds. When they crackle, add the curry leaves and the ground dal mixture. Fry for 4-5 minutes. Cover and cook for another 5 minutes over a low flame. Add the cooked beans and cook for a couple of minutes more. The dal mixture shouldn't be a lump anymore, but should look more like huge breadcrumbs.

I didn't steam cook the dal paste this time around. I soaked the dal before we hit the gym and didn't want the hassle of bringing out the pressure cooker. Some rice, vathal kuzhambu and paruppu usli made for a nice dinner. One day I will try the mor kuzhambu-paruppu usli combination that all of you have recommended so highly.

Gobhi ki Sabzi

I consider cauliflower one of the fastest vegetables to make in terms of preparation time. It has been a long time since I saw those worm laden flower heads. So, it is that much less time. And I think it is one of those forgiving vegetables too. You don’t have to worry about chopping evenly. Whatever you do, it seems like you always end up with florets anyway. This is a fairly standard recipe, not very complicated. My super simple recipe will come up soon as we do eat cauliflower very often in season. For now, here goes:

1 Medium Cauliflower, cut into florets

1 Onion, sliced
¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Chilli Powder

1 tsp Ginger paste
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tbsp Oil

1/4 tsp Cumin Seeds
¼ tsp Asafoetida
Salt to taste

Heat oil in a kadhai and add the cumin and asafoetida. When the cumin crackles, add the onions and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and ginger paste. Fry the entire mixture for 2-3 minutes. Add the cauliflower and the salt and fry for another 2-3 minutes. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. When done, add the garam masala and cook for a minute before serving.

This goes to Mythreyee of Paajaka as she hosts this month's edition of JFI: Cauliflower. I'm also very tempted to send this over to Aparna as she hosts this month's FIC: Orange. I hope she accepts it.

Kadgi Tori Ghasshi

Of late, Amma doesn't seem to cook that many amchi dishes. I figured this was because she only has to cook for two people. Appa has very limited tolerance for spices. What's amchi cooking without the fiery heat of bedgi chillies. Moreover, Appa seems to like typical Iyengar food and stuff like Italian and Chinese. It is not that he won't eat the other stuff, these would be his preference.

So I am not partial to either of them. One morning, I decided to cook some amchi food. Of the four members in the house at this point, three love this cuisine. So, whyever not? I had asked Amma to bring some more Pigeon Peas (Tori) from Bombay. When I get fresh stock of things I don't get in Delhi/Gurgaon, I am tempted to use them right away.

250g Raw Jackfruit, cut and cooked

1/2 cup Pigeon Peas (Tori/Tuvar), soaked overnight and cooked

2 tbsp Scraped Coconut

3-4 Red Chillies

1 1/2 tsp Coriander Seeds

1 tbsp Tamarind Paste (Add more or less to taste)

Salt to taste

1 tsp Oil

For the tempering:

1 tsp Oil

2-3 Garlic Pods, crushed

For a no onion/garlic version, use this tempering:

1 tsp Oil

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

7-8 Curry Leaves

Heat the oil in a small kadhai and fry the chillies and coriander seeds. Grind this together with the tamarind paste and coconut. Add a handful of cooked pigeon peas to this and grind to a paste.

In a vessel, combine the cooked pigeon peas, jackfruit, the paste and salt. Add some water to this and bring to a boil.

In a frying ladle, heat the oil, add the garlic pods. If using the other tempering, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds and asafoetida, and when the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves. Add the tempering to the ghasshi and serve hot.

P.S.: Amchi is an abbreviation for "amchigele" which is how konkani people refer to the language (and other people who speak the language).

Sunshine Pasta

I love pasta. I love how I can throw in just about any vegetable into it and make the dish look and feel like a million bucks. This pasta was the result of what I had in my crisper one morning. Just like my Green Salad "happened", this sunshine pasta came together with a little bit of this and some of that.

1 cup Fusilli, prepared according to directions on the package
2 Medium Carrots, sliced and steamed
1 Orange Pepper, sliced
1 Yellow Pepper, sliced
1 Red Pepper, sliced
2 Tomatoes, sliced
1 Onion, sliced
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Oregano
½ tsp Basil
½ tsp Parsley
1 tsp Chilli Flakes/Paprika
1 pod Garlic, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to Taste


Heat the oil in a pan and add the garlic. After a minute, add the onions and the chilli flakes/paprika. Fry for a minute more. Add the herbs and the tomatoes. Fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the peppers along with the carrots and cook for 4-5 minutes. Toss in the pasta. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

This could be a quick fix lunch or dinner. I love the colours. What about you? Off this goes to dear Aparna as she hosts this month's edition of FIC-Orange, an event started by SunshineMom. That's quite a bit of Sunshine!

Paneer Methi Malai

On New Year's Day, S and I drove to Karnal to get our car serviced. It is said that the best service station of Tata Motors is in Karnal. We gave the car to the service station folks and then went to the Karnal Haveli. The owner of the service station was gracious enough to offer us his car. It was quite cold and we were very hungry when we reached the place. We ordered some typically Punjabi food and relished every morsel.

One of the dishes we had was called Paneer Methi Malai. It was lipsmackingly delicious. I wanted to recreate the dish at home. A couple of weekends ago, I decided to try my hand at it. The resultant dish was great. We lapped it up with some hot phulkas.

2 cups Fenugreek Leaves, washed and chopped

½ tsp Cumin Seeds

1 cup Paneer, cubed

½ cup Milk

2 tbsp Cream

¼ tsp Sugar (optional)

1 tbsp Oil

Salt to taste

To be ground to a paste:

1 Onion

2 Green Chillies

½” piece Ginger

2 cloves Garlic

2 tbsp Cashews

1 tsp Poppy Seeds

Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds. When they crackle, add the fenugreek leaves and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the paste and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the milk, cream, sugar, salt and paneer cubes. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Serve with rotis.

Strawberry Cake for an important milestone

Although I celebrated Appa's birthday on The Singing Chef with a Date and Fruit Cake, in the non blog life, I celebrated it with this simple strawberry cake. My friend in Bombay had sent me 2 boxes of strawberries through Amma and they needed to be used up really quickly. So I decided to use them up in a nice manner. I even tried to decorate it with some strawberry halves, but they all sank in. The cake turned out to be very tasty and extremely moist. I loved every bite. Half of the cake was gone in no time at all. The other half was savoured slowly. I didn't get any pictures of the cake after it was cut.

1 cup Flour

1/2 cup Sugar

2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda

a Pinch of Salt

1/2 cup Milk
1 cup Strawberries, chopped

1/4 cup Oil

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

1 Egg, beaten

a few drops of Red Food Colouring (optional)

Preheat the oven to350F (180 C).

Grease and flour/line an 8-inch cake tin.

Sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a mixing bowl, add the egg, milk, sugar, oil, vanilla and food colour (if using). Beat well together. Add the flour mixture to this and blend well. Add the chopped strawberries and mix well.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin. Decorate with strawberry halves, if desired, and bake for 30 minutes or until a knife/skewer, inserted into the centre of the cake, comes out clean.

I'm sending this cake to Sig as she celebrates her birthday. Since it has as much fruit as it does flour, I hope she won't mind a small slice. This blog is now 21 months old and I am thrilled to celebrate my 400th post here with this cake.