Vegetable Balti - Vegetarian Chicken Balti - Balti made with Soya Chunks

Balti is a very popular side dish served in Indian restaurants in UK. It is quite popular  (well, not as popular as Tikka Masala) dish here. Its origins are not quite clear. Some believe that is just originated in Britain, while other sources say they originated in Baltistan in Kashmir. Where ever it came from, it is quite different from the popular Punjabi sides that we were familiar with and we all loved it.

Avant Garde Cookies are making Kashmiri Food this week and though quite a few Kashmiri dishes came to my mind, this was just something that I really wanted to try. So here it is! Hope you will try it and enjoy it.



Ingredients

Onions 2 chopped
Garlic pods 5
Ginger 1 inch piece
Green chillies slit 2
Cumin/jeera 1 tsp
Coriander seeds 1 tsp
Tomato Puree 2 tbsp

Peppers  (of different colours if you get it) 3 cut into squares
Onions 3 cut into squares
Soya Chunks 1 cup (or substitute with potatoes)
Cumin powder 1 tsp
Turmeric 1 tsp
Kashmiri Red Chilli powder 1.5 tsp
Cinnamon powder 2 pinches
Garam Masala 1 tsp



Method of Preparation

1. Heat a little oil in a pan. Add the onions and saute for a few minutes till it starts to colour a little.

2. Add the garlic, ginger, green chillies, cumin and coriander. Saute for a few minutes till it all browns a little.

3. Add to a food processor or blender and grind into a smooth paste. Transfer back to the pan along with 1 cup of water and the tomato paste. Sauté till it all comes together and the colour darkens.

4. In the meanwhile heat oil (little at a time) in a wok. Add peppers and sauté till it is charred a little. Keep aside.

5.  Add the onions and sauté till it is also browned. Keep aside.

6. Cook the soya chunks in boiling water for 5-6 min. Drain and squeeze excess water out of the soya. Sauté that as well in the wok. Just a minute or 2 would do. Or if using potatoes, just boil till cooked.

7. To the onion paste that is cooking add turmeric, cumin powder, chilli powder and garam masala. Sauté for a couple of minutes.

8. Add the veggies and soya (or potatoes). Add 1-2 cups of water if required. Add some salt. Mix everything together. Simmer for a few minutes.

Serve with some roti or naan. Will go well with rice too.

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

Also sending to My Legume Love Affair hosted by Aparna, Also check out Lisa's MLLA information page and Susan’s MLLA page.

Kashmiri Roti

Another Roti recipe I found in my Tarla Dalal book. We liked it.



Ingredients for 4 rotis

Wheat Flour 1 cup
Jeera 1/4 tsp
Fennel seeds (Saunf) 1/4 tsp
Coarse Ground pepper 1/2 tsp
Ajwain 1/4 tsp
Hing
Salt

Milk (optional)

Method of preparation

1. Mix all the ingredients (except milk) in a bowl and mix well.

2. Make a dough with milk or water. The recipe recommended milk, so I used it. You can use water as well.

3.  Keep it wrapped for a couple of hours. Split into 4 small balls

4. Roll like you will do for normal roti and cook in a tawa using ghee on both sides.

Just to show the texture after the roti is rolled



I felt that Ajwain kind of overpowered other spices. So if you are looking for varied flavours, skip or reduce the ajwain. But as I mentioned in the Ajwain Parata post, it is my new favourite spice. It adds a nice flavour to the roti.