High Spirited Sree's blog

Location: Culinary / Main-dishes / broccoli manchurian

I had seen in English movies where the kids despise their vegetables especially broccoli. So somehow I had the picture in my mind that its disgusting..heheheh

Thanks to Rishika,  now we have started having most of the vegetables ;-). So I thought I should give broccoli a try. After buying it, the question was what dish to prepare ?  Broccoli does look like a cauliflower! so I decided  ill prepare the famous cauliflower dish in India,  ‘gobi manchurian’ with broccoli.:-)

Now my remark, broccoli tastes really good!!  Actually Ram and I liked it even more than cauliflower.

The other day I made sandwiches too with smashed broccoli and paneer 🙂

I fry broccoli by dipping it in corn flour mix/ besan mix. The besan idea was shared by my friend Nisha whilst i was staying as a paying guest. It doesnt taste like the ones u get in hotel, as they use Corn flour dips, but it tastes nice. So for a change u can try it out.

recipe :

Broccoli pakoda

broccoli – 1 medium size chopped

gram flour (besan) –  1 cup (add more/ less to get a thick consistency)

chilly powder – 1 tsp

salt -1/2 tsp

soy sauce – 1 tsp

oil – for deep frying

– cook brocoli in water for a 10-15 min till its soft

– make a batter by adding besan,  chilly powder, soya sauce and salt

– the batter should be thick so as to form a coating on broccoli without much dripping

– dip broccoli and fry it oil

– set aside the broccoli pakodas

Manchurian

onion – 2 medium size chopped

capsicum –  1 medium size chopped

garlic – 2-3 nos finely chopped

green chilly -2 slit

chilly powder 1/2 tsp

soy sauce – 2 tsp

tomato sauce- 3 tsp

corn flour- 2 tsp

– heat oil and add garlic.

– cook till the aroma comes (1 min) and then add onions and capsicum

– saute onions and capsicum in medium flame for 10 min

– add chilly powder, soy sauce,  tomato sauce and mix well

– add 1 cup water mixed with corn flour

– add more corn flour if required to get a thick gluey gravy

– once it starts boiling add the pakodas and mix well and let it cook for a couple of minutes.

– add more water if required as the pakodas tend to absorb water

– garnish with chopped spring onions and coriander leaves

Location: Culinary / Main-dishes / Chicken in spicy cashew gravy

This post was in my draft list. I might have missed out to post it 🙂

So here Im back with the cashew gravy 🙂

For Chicken fry

chicken- 400 gms

salt- 1tsp

chilly powder- 1tsp

garam masala – 1 tsp

coriander powder – 1 tsp

tumeric powder – 1/2 tsp

– mix all the condiments with a little water to make a paste

– use this for marinating chicken and keep aside for 15 min

– fry chicken till golden brown and cooked

For cashew gravy

onions –  5 medium sized onions (chopped finely)

green chilly – 4 nos (finely chopped)

salt – 2 tsp

chilly powder – 1 1/2 tsp

tumeric powder- 1/2 tsp

coriander powder – 1tsp

garam masala – 1 tsp

cashew –  25 gm

tomato ketchup – 3 tbsp

oil – 2 tbsp

– soak cashews in water

– make a paste by adding water

– heat oil in a pan

– saute onions and green chilly till dark brown

– add all condiments and stir for a few seconds

– add tomato ketchup

– add 1/2 cup water and let it boil.

– add chicken pieces and mix well for 2 mins

– add cashew gravy and enough water

– simmer and let it cook for 15 min

I served it with hot malabar parotta. Well you could make a chicken curry of ur taste and just add the cashew paste to give it the rich feeling !!

Location:  Culinary / Main dishes / Stuffed potatoes in cashew gravy

Last week while I was chatting with my friend Swati, she mentioned that her sis would be visiting her. So Swati was planning to make so many nice dishes. I hadnt heard of those dishes so she shared the links of the recipe too. Everything looked so tempting, if only I was in US living next to her!! Well  I couldnt control my craving so I decided to prepare one of the dishes too.  Lucknowi Bharwan aloo looked most tempting. The original lucknowi bharwan aloo recipe by Sanjeev kapoor.

But I actually made a variation to the original.  I only took the idea of stuffing potatoes (aloo). Actually we prefer spicy food and I dont like nuts and fruits in pieces in the main dish.

So this is how I prepared the dish and it was really very tasty. Well im sure to prepare similar gravy again for other dishes!! The stuffed potato looked more like halved egg pieces

For making paneer:

This I learnt from my colleague Jyotshna. I normally buy paneer, once I did try making paneer with lemon juice.  It didnt turn out nice. Jyotshna had suggested making paneer by adding vinegar to milk. So a big thanks to Jyotshna!!

milk – 2 cups

white vinegar – 2 tblsp

– boil milk

– when it starts boiling add vinegar and stir the milk

– the paneer starts separating from the milk.

– now let it cool

– then strain the water away using a muslin cloth. I normally use a strainer 😉

– If I need paneer in cubes, I place the paneer in a container tightly pressed down and keep it in fridge. I then use it the next day and cut it in cubes. It tastes real nice and soft.

For stuffed Potatoes:

potatoes – 4 medium sized peeled and halved

green chilly – 2 nos

onion – 1 small (chopped finely)

paneer – made from 2 cups of milk

tumeric powder – 1/2 tsp

cumin seeds/jeera – 1/2 tsp

chilly powder – 1/2 tsp

cumin/jeera powder – 1/2 tsp

salt – 1/2 tsp

oil- 1 tbsp and for deep frying

–  scoop out the center of the potatoes. I used a peeler to scoop the center out

– heat oil in a wok/kadai  and deep fry potatoes till light brown

– keep aside the fried potatoes

– heat pan and add 1 tbsp oil

– add cumin seeds and saute for a few secs

– then add onion and green chilly and saute for a few min till onion turns slightly brown

–  add salt, chilly powder, turmeric and cumin powder

–  turn off the flame and mix with paneer

– now stuff this in the fried potatoes. Press firmly with your fingers

For preparing gravy:

onions –  3 medium sized ( finely chopped)

green chilly – 2 nos

tomato ketchup – 2 tbsp

cashew nuts – 50 gm

cumin seeds/jeera – 1 tsp

cumin powder – 1/2 tsp

chilly powder – 1 tsp

garam masala – 3/4 tsp

coriander powder – 1 tsp

turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp

oil – 1 tbsp

– soak cashew nuts in water for 15 min

– make a paste out of cashews by adding little water

– heat oil in pan and add jeera and saute for a few sec

– now add onion and green chilly and saute till dark brown

– then add salt, cumin powder, chilly powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and garam masala

– saute for few sec and then add ketchup and mix well

– add 1 cup water and let it boil

– then add cashew paste and mix well

– now slowly place the stuffed potatoes in the gravy

– make sure theres enough water as the gravy tends to thicken because of cashew paste added.

– close and simmer for 15 min

– garnish with coriander leaves

We had it with moong dal puri.

cherote squash / cheema katrika/ chow chow

Our land lady’s maid was kind enough to share a few chow chow with us. I had seen the vegetable in market but never dared to buy it as I didn’t know how to prepare it. The maid explained to me in Hindi that it needs to be cooked exactly like a potato, peel it and cook it with any other veggies or non-veg items.
Now that’s something interesting.

Ram didn’t like the smell of chow chow :-). I prepared a dish of chow-chow with vanpayar/red-cow peas and it came out well and Ram too liked it.

Here’s my recipe:
vanpayar – 1/2 cup (soak overnight)
chow chow – 1
green chilly – 3
chilly powder – 1 tsp
garam masala – 3/4 tsp
coriander -1 tsp
tumeric -1/2 tsp
cumin powder- 1/2 tsp
mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
cloves – 3
cinnamon – small piece
curry leaves
oil- 1 tbsp

– cook vanpayar in a cooker around 5-6 whistles
– meanwhile heat oil in a pan
– add mustard seeds
– once mustard splutter add cloves and cinnamon
– add chopped chow chow and chilly
– mix well with salt
– close and let it cook for 15 min
– add all the masalas and mix properly
– then add the cooked vanapayar with water
– add curry leaves and let is stay on a low flame for around 10 min.