Bengali Cabbage and Potato Curry

Cabbage is prepared in our house as a dry subzi (with or without coconut) and as a kootu with dal and coconut. But making a side dish for roti with cabbage is a difficult task for me. I saw this recipe in this site and tried it. It was a nice variety to try with cabbage. It thickened up more as it cooled.



Ingredients

Cabbage 1 medium (500gm)
Potato 3 medium
Tomato 4
Water 3 cups

Jeera 1 tsp
Fennel 1 tsp
Bay leaf 1
Cinnamon 1 piece
Clove 2

Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Chilli Powder 1 tsp
Garam Masala 1/2 tsp

Oil and Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add the jeera, fennel, bay leaf, cinnamon and clove.

2. When it sizzles, add shredded cabbage and saute till it is slightly browned.

3. Add chopped tomatoes and cook till it is well done.

4. Add cubed potatoes along with turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Also add the water.

5. Bring to a boil and cook till the potatoes are cooked and water is absorbed.

6. Add the garam masala and cook for another minute.

7. The gravy will thicken further in an hour or so.

Serve with rice or roti.

Khasta Kachori - Kachori with moong dal stuffing

Gujaratis are a group of people who love food and hospitality. Eating and entertaining is a family ritual. My mom grew up there and we have spent a good portion of our summer holidays in Ahmedabad. Khakras though quite simple are my fav. Simple things like Shrikhand and Poori with Aamras still linger in my memory. Lets not forget the Dhoklas and Theplas.

Avant Garde Cookies this month decided to make Gujju Snacks. I have already made Khakras and have failed miserably in making Dhokla. When I saw this recipe for Kachori, I knew I wanted to make it.

Kachoris are traditionally Rajastani. But this variation with Moong Dal stuffing traces its origins in Gujarat. It was just out of the world. We all loved it.





Ingredients

Maida (APF) 2 cups
salt 1 tsp
Oil a little
Cold water

Stuffing
Moong dal (soaked and drianed, powdered) 1/2 cup
Fennel seeds 1 tsp
Coriander seeds 1 tsp
Red Chilli 1
Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Ginger powder 1/2 tsp
Hing a little
Salt

To serve
Boiled and cubed potatoes
Cooked Chickpeas
Yogurt
Tamarind Date Chutney - recipe here
Mint Chutney - recipe here
Onions
Coriander leaves
Sev/Bhujia  - recipe here
Chilli Powder
Chat Masala

Method of Preparation

Preparing the stuffing

1. Soak Yellow split moong dal for a couple of hours. Drain.

2. In a mixie, powder Fennel seeds, Coriander seeds and Red Chilli.

3. Add the drained moong dal and grind into a coarse paste/powder. Do not add any water.

4. In a pan heat some oil. Add the moong paste along with some Salt, Turmeric, Ginger powder and Hing.

5. Saute for a few minutes till the dal is cooked a little. Keep aside.



Preparing the dough

1. Take the Maida in a bowl along with some salt and oil.

2. Knead into a dough (like chappati dough) using the cold water. Make sure that you are careful with the water. Unlike wheat flour, maida does not need that much water.

3. Cover and refrigerate for 15-30 minutes.

Making the kachori

1. Divide the dough into 16 small balls.

2. Take a ball (keeping the others covered).

3. Flatten into a small disc with your hand.

4. Place a tsp of the stuffing in the center.

5. Fold the dough around the stuffing.

6. Roll into a smooth ball and then flatten into discs.

7. Repeat for the rest of the balls.

8. Keep these flattened dough wrapped in cling film for an hour in the fridge. Make sure that they do not tough each other. They will stick to each other.



Frying the Kachori

1. Heat oil in a pan. When the oil is heated up, a small portion of dough put into the oil will rise slowly up. If it rises too fast, it is too hot. If it sinks, it is not hot yet.

2. Add a few Kachoris at a time and fry in a low flame.

3. When one side is browned, turn and cook the other side.

4. Take out from oil and drain in a kitchen towel.

5. Repeat for the rest of the dough.



You can serve this with chutney. I made some chaat with it. Read on for the chaat recipe

To make chaat

1. Place Kachoris in a plate.

2. Add some potatoes and chick peas (channa).

3. Add some yogurt over it. The add some tamarind-date chutney and mint chutney.

4. Add chopped onions and coriander leaves.

5. Top with some sev.

6. Sprinkle some chilli powder and chaat masala.

Enjoy!!

Check out the other AGC thoughout this week 
Anusha, Jayanthi, Kavitha, Priya M, Radhika, Veena, Priya S

Pongala Pasayam - Sarkara Payasam - Attukal Pongala Special

Attukal Bhagavathi is a goddess worshiped in my home town Trivandrum. Every year millions of women offer pongala (prayer offering) to attuakal amma (mother). People arrive from all parts of the state and even from other states. They set up hearths with bricks and they make payasam (similar to chakkara pongal) and therali appam.



Around 7km radius of the temple women sit in lines with their hearths. The priest at the temple lights the fire in the temple hearth and the fire is transferred from one hearth to the next.

Women prepraring Payasam and Therali in a brick hearth on the streets of Trivandrum (Photo by Santosh)



Earthen Pots and Pans being sold in the market (Photo by Santosh)



Around 3.5 million women offer pongala to Attukal Amma. The priest lit the temple hearth at around 10:15. At around 2:30, priests from the temple (around 250 odd) sprinkle the holy water on all the preparations and the offering to goddess is complete.

It is the largest women's gathering in the world and has made it to the guinness records. If you are in Trivandrum, please do visit the temple.

Attukal Bhagavathy Temple - Trivandrum, Kerala

I am presenting to you the recipe of Pongala Payasam that is made as an offering for the Bhagavathi. The recipe is pretty simple. Though quite similar to Chakkara Pongal prepared by Tamilians on Pongal day, this payasam has a unique taste cause of the added coconut and the no milk factor.

Thanks to Shoba Chechi and Aswathy for the recipe... Thanks to Santosh for the photos of the festival...



Another neivedhyam (offering) is Therali Appam.  I have posted the recipe for that before. Do check that here.



Ingredients

Rice 1 cup
Water 7 cups
Jaggery 2 cups
Coconut 1 cup
Cardamom powder 1/4 tsp
Cashews few
Raisins few
Ghee 2 tbsp

 




Method of Preparation

1. Bring 7 cups of water to boil.

2. Add rice to it and cook till it is well done. The water will be almost absorbed now. Check with the spatula to make sure cause once the jaggery is added the rice will not cook anymore.

3. Add the jaggery (powdered) and mix. It will melt and liquefy the payasam. Simmer for a few minutes.

4. Add coconut and cardamom powder along with 1 tbsp of ghee. Mix well and cook for another 3-4 minutes. The payasam will start to solidify now.

5. In the end, heat ghee in a small pan and add cashews. When they brown, keep aside. In the same pan, add the raisins and roast. Add the cashews and raisins along with the ghee to the payasam

Enjoy! Some ppl like to add some sliced bananas to this while eating.

Therali Appam - Attukal Pongala

Attukal Pongala 2013 is on 26th of Feb. Don't forget to check the recipe of Therali Appam

Attukal Bhagavathi is a goddess worshiped in my home town Trivandrum. She is the heroine Kannagi of the poem Chilapatikaram, written in Tamil by Elankovadikal.

Read the story of Kannagi in this wikipedia article. After avenging her husband's wrongful death, she travels to Kodugallur, stopping on her way at Attukal. She is considered as the incarnation of Parvathi.

Every year millions of women offer pongala (prayer offering) to attuakal amma (mother). People arrive from all parts of the state and even from other states. They set up hearths with bricks and they make payasam (similar to chakkara pongal) and therali appam.

Around 7km radius of the temple women sit in lines with their hearths. The priest at the temple lights the fire in the temple hearth and the fire is transferred from one hearth to the next.

This year the pongala was celebrated on the 07th of March. Around 3.5 million women offered pongala to attukal amma. The priest lit the temple hearth at around 10:15. At around 2:30, priests from the temple (around 250 odd) sprinkled the holy water on all the preparations and the offering to goddess is complete.

It is the largest women's gathering in the world and has made it to the guinness records. If you are in Trivandrum, please do visit the temple.

I am presenting to you the recipe of Therali Appam that is made as an offering for the Bhagavathi. The recipe is pretty simple. The only hitch is you require the therali leaves for making them. That is why I always miss it cause it cannot be made in UK :-( The leaves add the unique taste to these appams. So try it only with these leaves. I made these therali appams with Shobha chechi.

For the longest time, I did not know that Therali Leaf is nothing but fresh bay leaf.

The leaves are rolled to form cones. Erkil (the stem of coconut leaves) are used as holders. Tooth picks can also be used :-)

The dough (recipe below) is stuffed and steamed.

Another way of making it is to roll the leaves over the dough and string them together along an Erkil

Ingredients

Rice Flour  1 cups
Jaggery little over 1/2 cup
Small banana 1
Ghee 2 tsp
Cardamon 2

Method of Preparation

1. Rice has to be washed and dried. Then powdered into a coarse powder. Then roasted like you do for puttu. You can use store bought coarse rice flour as well.

2. Mix all the above ingredients into a dry mixture. Because of the the wetness from the banana and the jaggery, it will come together. We use a type of banana called Palayam thodan for this. It has a slight tangy taste to it.

3. Fill the cones of therali and steam them. Appam is ready to be served.

Submitting this recipe to Kerala Kitchen hosted by Prathibha

Classic Croissants

A group of bakers - We Knead to Bake made Croissants this month... From scratch!!! If you are like my husband, you might ask what is the big deal. Well, I can buy croissants for less than a £. So it is hard to explain to my husband why I need to spend 3 days making it.

To me it was to prove that I can do it. To acquire a skill. Does that sound good enough reason.. If it does, please do read on.



Aparna mailed us detailed instructions and photos on the first of this month. We all discussed it over the last few weeks. It was an exciting journey. We are all looking forward to the next month's bread already :-)

Aparna's instructions - our bible. 8 pages full of detailed steps and pics. Could not have done it without this.

Ingredients

For Dough

All Purpose Flour 4 cups

Milk 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp

Water 1/2 cup + 4 tbsp (original used 2 tbsp, i felt it needed 4 tbsp)

Granulated Sugar 1/4 cup

Unsalted Butter (Soft) 40 gm

Fast acting instant yeast 1 tbsp + 1/2 tsp

Salt 2 tsp

For Lamination

Butter 250 gm (cold unsalted)

Milk or Eggwash

Method of Preparation

Day 1 - Preparing the dough

1. Combine all the ingredients (APF, Milk, Water, Sugar, Butter, Yeast, Salt) in a bowl. Knead till combined and rolled into a ball. Do not over knead as you do not want gluten to form. 

2. Place it on a plate, cover with cling film and refrigerate overnight.

Day 2 - Laminating the dough

Prepare the butter

1. Cut 2 squares (10") of parchment paper. Cut the cold butter into 1/2" slabs. Place these pieces on the parchment paper to form a 6" square. Cut the butter further into pieces as required to fit the square. Top with the other piece of parchment paper.

2. Using a rolling pin, pound the butter to make the pieces stick together and then flatten out to a 7-8" square. Trim the edges of the butter to make a neat square. Put the trimmings on top of the square and pound them in lightly with the rolling pin. Refrigerate this while you roll out the dough.

Laminating the dough

1. Place the dough in a lightly floured surface. Roll it into a 10 1/2" square. 

2. Place the butter on the dough to form a diamond shape. (Make sure the butter is neither too hard nor too soft. Hard butter will be brittle and break. Soft butter will leak)

3. Fold one side of the dough over the butter. Fold the opposite side on top of this. Now fold the top part over the butter and then fold in the bottom over the top. Make sure that the dough fully covers the butter. No leaks.

4. Flour the surface and press the dough gently. The roll to elongate the dough (do not widen) till you get a rectangle of 8" by 24".

5. Along the length, mark at 8" and 16". Fold the left 8" to the center. Fold the right 8" over the left one. Cover with cling wrap and freeze for 15 minutes.

6. Repeat the rolling and folding, this time rolling in the direction of the two open ends (from the shorter sides to lengthen the longer sides) until the dough is about 8" by 24". Once again fold the dough at 8" from left to centre and at 16" from right to centre. Cover with cling wrap and freeze for another 15 minutes.

7. Take the dough out and repeat the above step for one time (3rd rolling). Fold and cover with a cling wrap. This time refrigerate overnight.

Day 3 - Shaping, Proofing and Baking

1. Take the dough out of the fridge and cut into 2 pieces along the longer side. Refrigerate one part while you work on the other part.

 

2. Roll on a lightly floured surface to make a 8" by 22" rectangle. Trim off the edges to make a perfect rectangle. Make sure you have atleast have 20" length.

3. Time to cut into triangles. One the top side, mark at 5" intervals. You will have 3 marks (4 sections). One the bottom, start the mark at 2.5" and mark at 5" intervals. You will have 4 marks. 

4. Cut into triangles from top to bottom. You will have 7 big triangles and 2 side bits. 

5. Take each triangle. Stretch it from top to bottom one more time. 

6. Make a small notch on the top.

 

7. Make a small flip on the notch. The will help the croissant to get the crescent shape. 

8. Roll the dough from the wider side to the tip tucking the tip under and joining the claws at the end. 



9. Place it on a parchment paper lined baking tray. Brush with a little milk/eggwash. 

10. Proof (let it rest) for 2-3 hours till it rises (will not double). Slightly cover it (without touching the croissant) or keep inside the oven (without turning on).

11. Preheat oven to 200 C. Brush with some more milk/eggwash and bake the croissants for 15-20 minutes till it is lightly browned on top. Mine were done in 15 minutes. Do remember to rotate the tray half way thru to get even baking





Check the other bakers and detailed instructions in Aparna's Post
Original recipe in Fine Cooking

Also check this video for a beautiful demonstration of the process.

Sindhi Toor Dal

I guess I need not tell you guys about the love of dal runs in our family. To make the H and kid happy, I made another simple dal. I found the recipe for it here.



Ingredients

Toor Dal 1 cup
Water 3 cups
Tomato 2
Curry Leaves few
Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Ghee 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

For Tadka (tempering)

Mustard 1/2 tsp
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Methi seeds 1/4 tsp
Hing a generous pinch
Ginger 1 inch piece
Green chilli 1
Dried Red Chilli 2
Curry Powder (I used sambar powder) 1/2 tsp
Water 1/4 cup

Lemon Juice 1 tsp
Coriander leaves little
Oil and salt to taste



Method of Preparation

1. Add the toor dal, water, curry leaves, tomatoes, turmeric, ghee and salt to a vessel. Pressure cook till every thing is cooked well.

2. Let it cool and grind it once in the mixie to make a smooth paste. I just made a paste of half the dal mix and left the rest as is for some texture.

3. In a pan, add some oil. Add mustard, jeera, methi, hing, ginger, green chilli, red chilli.

4. When it sizzles, add the curry powder and 1/4 cup of water. Cook for a couple of min.

5. Add the dal paste and simmer for a few minutes.

6. Garnish with some coriander leaves and add the lemon juice and mix well.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Mushrooms are a family favourite. My husband and son love mushrooms. So when I wanted to make a quick lunch for them, i made this soup. Paired with some homemade bread and pasta and it was a complete meal.



Ingredients (Makes 2 bowls)

Mushroom 3 cups
Onions 1/4 cup
Butter 2 tbsp
Flour 2 tbsp
Milk 1.5 cup (or cream)
Water 1 cup (or stock)
Basil 1 tbsp (or thyme)
Dried herbs a pinch
Pepper a pinch
Garlic powder 2 pinches (or garlic pods 2)

salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Add the mushrooms to a microwave safe bowl and cook till it is done. I left it for about 12 min. Once it is done, chop it into smaller pieces if need be.

2. In a pot, add butter. Add in the chopped onions.

3. Once sauted, add the mushrooms and saute for another minute. Now add the flour and stir for a minute.

4. Add the water or stock a little first. Stir till it creams up. Add more and keep stirring.

5. Then add the dried herbs, garlic powder and pepper. Mix well. If you are using garlic, add it with onions.

6. At this stage, i took about a cup of the mix into a mixie and blended it. Add back to the pot. If you have a hand blender, you could just go in and give it a rough blend.

7. Now add the milk and simmer till it is heated up.

8. Add in the basil leaves and mix well.

Serve with some crusty bread or a garlic bread.