Category Archives: Entrees

Gujarati Daal

Entrees, vegetarian

Gujarati food is very tasty and it has a lot of different spices.  It is sweet from sugar, hot from chili, bitter from fenugreek seeds, sour from lemon juice and nutty from peanuts.  I got this recipe from my mother who got it from our Gujarati neighbor in Uganda.

Serves 4

Gujarati Daal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

  • 1            cup toor daal(8oz)
  • 1/4         cup raw peanuts(optional)
  • 2            med tomato chopped(6oz)
  • 1            tsp dhana jeera
  • 1/4         tsp haldi (tumeric powder)
  • 1            tsp garlic paste
  • 1            tsp ginger paste
  • 1/2         tsp green chilli paste
  • 1/2         tsp salt
  • 1            tbsp sugar (optional)
  • 2            tbsp oil
  • 1/4         tsp jeera(cumin) seeds
  • 1/4         tsp rye (mustard seeds)
  • 1/4         tsp methi (fenugreek seeds)
  • 5            curry leaves
  • 1            tbsp chopped cilantr0
  •               juice of 1 lemon

Instructions

  1. Rinse daal in cold water and soak it in 6 cups of water  for 5 hours or overnight. ( Daal will cook faster if it has been soaked).
  2. Boil the daal in 2 cups of water, when the daal starts to boil remove it from the heat, drain it and rinse it in cold water(this will remove the gas from the daal).
  3. Boil it in 4 cups of water, add the chopped tomato, dhana jeera, haldi and  green masala.  Boil it for about half an hour, the daal will be soft.  With a whisk mash the daal.
  4. Add salt, lemon juice, sugar and peanuts.
  5. Heat oil in a frying pan, add the rye, methi, jeera and curry leaves.  When the rye starts to pop, add this to the daal mix and boil for 15.
  6. Sprinkle the daal with cilantro before  serving.
  7. Serve the daal with rice, chapatti and  vegetable curry.

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Spicy Potatoes

Entrees

Aloo Curry 

Ingredients

  • 6                   med potatoes
  • 2                   tbsp oil
  • 5                   curry leaves
  • 1/4                tsp rye(mustard seeds)
  • 1/4                tsp jeera(cumin seeds)
  • 2                   tbsp tomato paste
  • 1                   tsp salt
  • 1/4                tsp red chili powder
  • 1                   tsp green masala
  •                      juice of 2 lemons
  • 1/4                tsp garam masala
  • 1                   tbsp chopped cilantro for decoration.

Instructions

  1. Boil the potatoes till they are half done.  About 10 minutes.  Peel them and cube them to 3/4 inch.
  2. In a medium saucepan heat the oil, add the curry leaves, rye and cumin.  When the rye starts to pop add the rest of the ingredients except cilantro.  Mix well.
  3. Add the potatoes mix, cover and cook for another 10 min till the potatoes are cooked through.
  4. Sprinkle cilantro before serving.
  5. Serve with BBQ chicken or meat.

Mattar Pilau

vegetarian

Serves 6

Ingredients

  • 2             cups basmati rice
  • 1             medium onion
  • 1             medium tomato
  • 2             potatoes(optional)
  • 4             tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1/4          tsp cumin
  • 1/4          tsp black pepper
  • 5             cloves
  • 1             inch piece cinnamon stick
  • 5             cardamom pods
  • 1             tsp dhanajeera(cumin and coriander powder)
  • 1/4          tsp haldi(turmeric powder) 
  • 2             tsp green masala
  • 1             cup frozen peas
  • 1/ 2         cup yoghurt
  • 2             tsp salt
  • 2-1/2       cups water
  • 1             tsp garam masala

Instructions

  1. Rinse the rice in cold water and soak it in the water till you are ready to use.
  2. Peel and thinly slice the onions, dice the tomatoes and peel and quarter the potatoes.
  3. In a medium saucepan heat the oil.  Add cumin, black pepper cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and onions.  Fry the onions till light golden brown. 
  4. Add the tomatoes, dhana jeera, haldi, green masala, salt  yoghurt, and peas.   Mix and let it cook on medium- high  heat for 5 minutes.
  5. Add the water.  When the water starts to boil add the rice.  When this starts to boil, turn the meat to medium cover and cook for 10 minutes.  Most of the liquid  will be absorbed. 
  6. Sprinkle garam masala and put it in a pre heated 300 degree oven for about 10 minutes.

Serve it with yoghurt and carrot pickle.  The rice can be served with chicken tikka or on its own.

Veal Biriyani

Entrees, Meat

Serves 6

Veal Biriyani

Ingredients

  • 2              lbs stewing veal
  • 3              onions
  • 2              medium tomatoes
  • 1              tbsp tomato paste
  • 1              cup yoghurt
  • 1/2          tsp cumin seeds
  • 1/2          tsp black pepper
  • 5              cardamom pods
  • 10           cloves
  • 1             2” piece cinnamon stick
  • 2             tsp green masala
  • 1/2         tsp red chili  powder
  • 1/4         tsp saffron
  • 1/2          cup water
  • 3              tsp salt
  • 3              cups rice
  • 2              tsp salt
  • 4              med potatoes
  •                 oil for frying
  • 1/4          cup finely chopped cilantro
  • 1              tbsp finely chopped mint leaves
  • 1              tsp garam masala
  • 1/4          tsp saffron
  • 1/4          cup hot water

Instructions

  1. Cut the meat into 1 inch cubes removing all the fat.  Rinse it in cold water.  Drain it and put it in a medium size saucepan.
  2. Peel and chop half an onion, add this in the saucepan.  Chop the tomatoes and add this to the saucepan.  Add the tomato paste, yoghurt, cumin seeds, black pepper, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon sticks, green masala,  red chili powder  1/4 tsp saffron, and 1/2 cup water.  Mix well.  Cover and cook on low heat for about 30 min stirring occasionally.  Uncover and cook till most of the liquid has evaporated and the meat is cooked. ( If the meat does not pull apart add more water and cook more.  Meat should not be fully cooked)  Add the salt and mix.
  3. In the meantime peel the potatoes and cut them  in quarters, and peel and slice the onions very fine.  Deep fry the potatoes first and then the onions till they are light brown and crispy.
  4. In another saucepan  boil 6 cups of water.  Add  2  tsp of salt and add the rice.  When the rice is just done remove from the heat and drain it, rinse it in cold water.
  5. In 1/4 cup hot water add the saffron and leave it on the side.
  6. To assemble the biriyani:
  7. Arrange the potatoes on top of the meat.  Sprinkle the chopped cilantro and mint on top.  Put a layer of fried onions on that.  Sprinkle the garam masala on it and then the rice on top.   Pour the saffron mixture on top of the rice and 1/2 cup of oil from the fried onions on it.  Cover the saucepan with a lid and put it in a preheated 350 degrees oven for about  half an hour.
  8. To serve:  Remove the rice from the top and put it in a platter and put the meat on top.
  9. You can buy fried onions at the Indian and Iranian Grocery store.

Vada(Wada)Daal Bhajiya

Gluten Free, Snacks & Appetizers, vegetarian

Vada is a savoury fritter-type snack from south India.  Vada is made with mung daal which is soaked overnight and pureed in a food processor with the herbs and then deep fried.  You can use a soup spoon, your fingers or a falafel maker to shape the vada..  Although vadas are deep fried, the finished product should not be too oily if prepared correctly, since steam build-up within the vada pushes all oil away.

Vadas are a snack food served with Amli(tamarind chutney) and coconut chutney.  It can also be served with chana batata.  Vada  tastes  good eaten freshly fried, while still hot and crunchy.

At home vada and passion fruit juice was a Saturday morning snack at small cafes.

Ingredients

  • 2              cup mung daal with skin
  • 1              medium onion
  • 2              tsp green masala
  • 1/2           tsp salt
  • 6              cups vegetable oil  for frying

Directions

  1. Soak daal overnight in  6 cups of cold water.
  2. Remove husks by rubbing, and washing several times with several changes of water.  Drain.
  3. Blend drained daal in a food processor.
  4. Blend onion in a food processor and add to the daal mix.  Add rest of the ingredients and mix well.
  5. Heat oil in a karia or a deep frying pan to medium hot.  The oil is ready when, if you put the handle of the wooden spoon in oil and bubbles start to form around  the spoon.  You can use a falafel maker,  or a spoon to slide the mixture into the oil.  You can use your damp hands to form a 1” ball and make round wadas or  flattened slightly into a patty.
  6. Fry on both sides  until golden brown.  The wada will puff up.  Drain on paper towel.
  7. Serve with coconut chutney and tamarind chutney.

Daal Bhajiya Mix

Daal Bhajiya Frying

Dhebra

Gluten Free, Snacks & Appetizers, vegetarian

This is iron and fibre-rich snack made with fenugreek leaves and bajro flour from Gujarat.  It is served as yoghurt plain or chutney as an afternoon snack.

If you are making it first time then you have to keep in mind that it is sticky dough and you have to be gentle with it.  Because of the bajro it will not be a perfect round, you will have rough edges.

This can be cooked over a tava or frying pan but then it is masala rotla, not dhebra.  Dhebra is best deep fried, so forget the healthy diet and enjoy it fried.

This is my grandmother’s recipe and I have used it for a long time.  You will find different version of this recipe.  This mixture has to rest overnight or at least 5 hrs.  If you make it instantly the texture will be different.  We had always used fresh methi in Africa, but it is not always available in the western countries so now I use the frozen methi.  Frozen Methi and bajro is found in an Indian grocery store.  You will also find different brands of bajri(millet flour), I use Jalpur.

Dhebra

 

 

Ingredients

  • 2             cups bajra no atta (millet flour)
  • 1             tbsp sugar
  • 1             tsp salt
  • ½            teaspoon haldi
  • ½            tsp crushed garlic
  • ½            tsp crushed green chillies
  • ½            tsp crushed ajma
  • ½            tsp crushed cumin
  • ½            tsp crushed black pepper
  • ½            tsp sesame seeds
  • 2             tbsp chopped cilantro
  • 1             cube frozen methi(fenugreek leaves)optional
  • 3/4          cup  yoghurt
  • 2             tbsp oil
For Frying
  • 3             cups oil for frying

For Decoration

  • 1/4          cup sesame seeds for decoration

For Serving

  • 1              cup yoghurt

Directions

  1. Put everything in a bowl and make a stiff dough with yoghurt.
  2. Leave it overnight or at least 5 hours.
  3. Make small balls about an inch round, roll this in sesame seeds
  4. With your fingers and on a kitchen towel, flatten the ball into a patty about 2” round.
  5. Deep fry this in a medium- hot oil. You can fry about 6 – 8 at a time.
  6. Serve this with Yoghurt
  7. You know the oil is hot when you put the handle of a wooden spoon in the oil and the oil bubbles around the handle.
  8. Use a coffee grinder to crush Ajma, Cumin and Black Pepper.
  9. You can make a chutney with garlic, Green Pepper and Cilantro.
  10. Use a little chutney in the yogourt and serve this with the dhebra

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Batata Wada

Snacks & Appetizers, vegetarian

Batata Wada is a nice mid-afternoon snack.  Batata  Wada means Potato Ball.  Mashed potato is delicately spiced,made into a round ball and dipped in a chickpea flour batter and deep fried.

 Ingredients

  • 2               lb Potatoes
  • 1               lb sweet potatoes
  • 1/2            cup chopped cilantro
  • 2               tsp  salt
  • 1               tsp  citric acid
  • 3/4            tsp  crushed black pepper
  • 3/4            tsp  crushed cumin
  • 1/2            tsp  turmeric powder
  • 1               tsp  garam masala.
  • 2               jalapeño
  • 2               tbsp chopped mint
  • ½              tsp  turmeric powder
  • 4               tbsp oil
  • 1/2            tsp mustard seeds
  • 1/2            tsp fenugreek seeds
  • 10             curry leaves
  • 1               cup mixed vegetables

 Batter

  • 3                 cups chana flour
  • 2                 cups water
  • ½                tsp  salt
  • ½                tsp  red chilly powder
  • 6                 cups oil for frying

Instructions

  1. Boil the potatoes & sweet potatoes, peel them and mash them.
  2. Add the chopped cilantro, salt,citric acid black pepper, cumin, Turmeric powder and garam masala.
  3. Blend the mint and  jalapeño and add this to the potato mix.
  4. Heat the oil in a small saucepan and make Vagar with curry leaves, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and fenugreek seeds. Add the vegetables and cook for about 5 min on med heat.
  5. Add this to the potato mix and mix everything together.
  6. Roll this into 1” balls.
  7. Make a batter with chana flour, water, salt, chilly powder. The batter should be running consistency.
  8. Dip the balls in the batter. ( The ball should be covered with the batter) and deep fry in medium to hot oil. The batter will be firm and you will have a golden brown crust. (about 5 minutes.)
  9. If your balls stick to the bottom of the Deep frying pan, your oil is not hot enough.

A wok is good for frying.

Serve this will Ambli.

You can adjust the salt and chilly powder according to your taste.

Bartha

Entrees, vegetarian

Eggplant is the fruit of a plant which originated in India.  Eggplant is a berry eaten as a vegetable.  There are a few varieties of eggplants.  The purple skinned eggplant, which as an elongated form like a large pear, is the most well-known variety.  The Asian eggplant refers to   varieties that can be as small as an egg, long and thin.  The thin, smooth skin can be dark or light purple, cream, white, green or orange.  The yellow-white flesh is spongy and contains small brownish edible seeds.

Western Eggplant                                                                              Italaian Eggplant

Western Egg PlantItalian Egg Plant

 

 

 

 

Asian  long Eggplant

Asian Egg Plant

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

  • 1               egg plant (western)
  • 4               tbsp oil
  • 1               medium onion chopped
  • 1               medium tomato chopped
  • 1               tsp green masala
  • 1/2            tsp dhana jeera (corriander and cumin powder
  • 1/4            tsp haldi (turmeric powder)
  • 1/2            tsp salt
  • 1               tbsp chopped cilantro

Instructions

  1. Rinse the eggplant and cut in half.  With a pastry brush(or your fingertips), brush  the eggplant with oil and bake  in a preheated 350 degrees oven for 20 minutes(Cut side down).  The egg plant will be soft when done.
  2. In a small saucepan heat the oil and sauté  the onions till they are transparent.  Add the chopped tomatoes, green masala, dhana jeera, haldi, and salt and cook it for five minutes.
  3. With a fork loosen the flesh of the egg plant and add this to the saucepan.  Discard the skin.  Mix well, cook for a couple of minutes.
  4. Garnish with cilantro before serving.
  5. Serve with chapatti or rotlo.

Bhinda Curry

Entrees

Bhinda is also known as Okra or Lady’s Finger.  You can buy them fresh from Chinese, Indian and Iranian grocery stores or you can buy them frozen from the supermarket.  

 Ingredients                                                              

  • 1           lb bhinda
  • 2           medium onions
  • 4           tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1/2        tsp cumin seeds
  • 2           medium tomatoes
  • 1           tbsp green masala
  • 1           tsp coriander and cumin powder
  • 1/4        tsp turmeric powder
  • 1           tsp salt
  • 2           tbsp yoghurt
  •              juice of 1 lemon
  • 1           tbsp chopped cilantro

Instructions

  1. Take a wet kitchen towel and clean the bhinda.  Slice them into 1/2 rings.
  2. Peel and thinly slice the onions.
  3. In a medium saucepan heat the oil, add the cumin and the sliced onions and fry till the onions are transparent.
  4. Chop the tomatoes and add this to the onions.  Add green masala,  dhanajeera ( coriander and cumin powder), turmeric powder, salt, yoghurt and lemon juice.  Stir and cook this on medium heat for about 5 minutes.
  5. Add the bhinda, mix and cook covered for about 10 min.  The bhinda should be soft.
  6. Sprinkle with cilantro before serving.

Serve with chapatti or paratha

Meat Samosa

Meat

A samosa is a stuffed, deep fried snack that is very popular in the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Central Asia and Southwest Asia and Africa. It generally consists of a fried triangular, pastry shell with a savory filling, which may include spiced potatoes, onions, peas, coriander, and lentils, or ground lamb or chicken. The size and shape of a samosa, can vary considerably, although it is mostly triangular. Samosas are often served with chutney,generally as an appetizer. Given the popularity of Indian cuisine, samosas are widely available in Indian restaurants and snack-bars in Europe, North America, Asia and Africa.

While samosas are traditionally fried, many people  prefer to bake them, as this is more convenient and healthier. 

In many countries samosa is sold as a street food.

Samosa is not an easy food to make.  You need a lot of practice to make it.  Now a days you can buy the pastry at an Indian grocery store and some supermarkets.

Meat Samosa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Makes about 20

Ingredients

  • 1               package samosa pastry
  • 1               lb ground beef
  • 1/4            cup water
  • ½              tsp salt
  • ½              tsp crushed ginger
  • ½              tsp crushed garlic
  • ½              tsp crushed green chilies
  • ½              tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 1               tsp freshly ground cumin
  • 1               tbsp chopped cilantro
  • 1               large onion finely chopped.
  • 1/2            tsp  garam masala
  •                  Few leaves of mint finely chopped.

Paste

  • 3               tbsp white flour
  • 4               tbsp water

Method

  1. Cook meat on medium heat with ¼ cup water.  Stir and break the meat until the meat changes color.
  2. Add all the spices and cook till meat is dry and cooked.
  3. When mixture is cool add chopped onions, cilantro, mint and garam masala.
  4. Make a paste with flour and water.
  5. Fold according to the diagram. 
  6. Fold the small side in half and mark the center
  7. Fold C to F
  8. Apply the paste over this diamond.
  9. Fold A to E
  10. Fill the pocket with meat mixture.
  11. Apply paste to the flap. Close the pocket fold and seal.
  12. Deep fry.

 

Samosa wraping