kabuli Chana Chola Curry/Chick Pea Curry

Sunday breakfast All time Favorite Chola with puri . My good old days when my Mummy steaming the chola in the pressure cooker and the whistle of it would make us get up early from the bed to start the Sunday morning with this mouth watering dish.
My hubby's favorite breakfast which we love preparing occasionally on weekends. This mouth watering chola was accompanied by large number of puris. By the time you people will be reading this am sure nothing would be left back on my pan ;-)

For this chola curry we need:

• White Chick pea- 200 gm soaked overnight in water
• Potato peeled - 1 large size
• Tomato -1 large finely chopped
• Onion- 1/2 cup chopped
• Ginger-Garlic Paste- 2 Tea spoon
• Green Chilly- 3 Finely chopped ,depends how much hot you want your curry to be.
• Cumin powder- 1/2 TSP
• Coriander powder- 1.5 TSP
• Pepper Powder- 1 Tea spoon
• Turmeric Powder- 1 Tea spoon
• Salt as per taste
• Oil for cooking
• Cumin seeds-1/2 Tea spoon
• Mustard seeds-1/2 Tea spoon
• Mint leaves- shredded
• Sauce tomato, Cream (optional)

Cooking:

• Boil the soaked cheak pea and potato by adding some salt and water to either the boiling pot or pressure cooker .Boil until cheak pea turns soft but not mushy.In a pressure cooker for boiling(4 whistles would be enough).
• In a skillet heat 3 Tsp of oil and add mustard and cumin seeds. Allow them to crackle.
• Once they start crackling add green chilly and after 10 seconds add onions.
• Saute onion until they are soft.
• Add the ginger garlic paste to it.
• In a medium size bowl take all the masalas, salt and tomato mix them well by adding little water.
• Once ginger garlic paste gets fried,I.e the raw smell is over add the masala paste.
• Fry until oil separates from the masala.
• At this point of time add the boiled cheak pea and potato . To this add 1 cup of water(use the same water which was used for boiling the cheak pea and potato) and let the curry simmer for next 10 mins.
• Turn off the heat sprinkle mint leaves or coriander leaves.

Your Kabuli chana chola curry is ready to be served. serve it hot with Nan, Puri or chapatis.

Happy cooking.. enjoy :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

Aloo Paratha/ Potato stuffed flat bread

I remember my mummy preparing aloo paratha during winter season and serving it with mango pickle which she had already prepared during the summer. Those hot parathas with pickle ,oh it was such a tasty treat for me and my brother. It makes me nostalgic.

well with time i have seen paratha getting customized with so many other vegetables, cheese and chicken. 

In North western India, the region of Punjab,Haryana and Delhi are specialized in parathas and now you can find these parathas being prepared everywhere in India. As you reach Bihar there is another very tasty and popular paratha dish called Sattu Paratha.

With time these parathas have crossed the borders and have reached to the dining plates of most of the countries on the globe.

My son has no teeth yet but he still loves them ,chewing the small bits with his tight gums. My hubby likes them too and i often pack them for his lunch. 

The type of aloo paratha that i prepare is very simple.

Ingredients:

• Wheat Flour -2 cup
• Water to knead the flour
• Boiled Potato - 2 large sizes
• Onion-1 finely chopped
• Garlic- 8 cloves finely chopped
• Ginger -1 TSP minced
• Green Chilly- 3 finely chopped
• Salt as per taste
• Ajwain -1 TSP
• Cumin seed- 1/2 TSP
• Coriander/Mint Leaves- shredded
• Unsalted butter/Ghee for cooking

Preparation of the dough:

Prepare the dough with wheat flour and water ,leave it aside.

Preparing the filling:

mash the boiled potatoes .Add onion,garlic ,chilly,ginger,ajwain,cumin seeds,coriander/mint leaves,salt. Mix well.

For the Bread:

make logs of the dough and simply tear them into balls of pamfull size.

Dust them with flour powder and then make bowls out of it.

For making bowls, hold the ball in left hand with the thumb at its center. With the thumb of the right hand finger start pressing around the left hand thumb.Keep rotating with the other fingers of left  hand.

Fill the bowls with the potatoes mix and close the mouth of the bowl and then roll them flat.

Heat the tawa . Place the flattened bread over the heated tawa. Turn on both sides until both the side becomes golden  brown in color. Once ,done grease the bread with ghee/butter on both sides. press with spatula on both sides once the bread seems to be cooked  take them off the tawa.

Serve them hot with tomato chutney , yogurt or pickle.

Enjoy and keep cooking :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

Salmon Fried/Maach Bhaja!!!

Salmon!  Oh i love this fish, Its delicious, Awesome. One reason being it doesn't have many bones here and there except for the single rib line which is mostly taken out in one go before it comes to the market.
i like many other fish the usual Rohu, Katla and pomfret. I love Prawns too but Salmon is my favorite among st all.

This salmon had been prepared in the simple convetional way.

Recipie:

•  Marinating the fish with teaspoon of turmeric,1 TSP of oil and salt. 
• Leave the marinate for 1 hour 
• Heat 4 TSP of oil in a skillet
• take two to three piece at a time and shallow fry them, until all sides turn golden brown in color. 

Serve it hot with Mayonnaise. Enjoy :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit