Cauliflower rassa...curried cauliflower

This takes a bit of TLC...so made when I have some time on my hands. It's creamy and has just a bit of bite from the garam masala. If you use Kashmiri chili powder you get the perfect colour. A treat for all the senses.

2 cups cauliflower florets. (keep them all the same size)
1 cup green peas
1 tbs of poppy seeds (khus khus) - soaked for at least 30 minutes
1 TBS grated ginger
2 cloves
2 pepper corns
2 green cardamom
1/4th inch piece of cinnamon
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
8-10 fenugreek seeds
1/2 cup chopped tomato
1/2 cup thick coconut milk
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp red chili powder (depending on how spicy you want it)
1 tsp Kashmiri chili powder or  sweet Hungarian paprika
4 TBS oil
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp hing
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
2 TBS chopped coriander

Grind together the soaked poppy seeds, ginger, cloves, peppers, cardamom, cinnamon, fennel seeds and fenugreek seeds to a smooth paste. Keep aside.

Heat the oil, temper with mustard seeds, hing and turmeric. Add the cauliflower, peas and the poppy seed paste. Saute till the cauliflower is completely coated with the paste and the tempering oil. Usually about 3-4 minutes. Add salt, chili powder and sugar and cover and cook. Do not add water at this point. The cauliflower will leach out water as it cooks. Once the cauliflower and peas are cooked, add the coconut milk and tomatoes. Add water to get it to the consistency you want. Check for seasoning. Bring to a rolling boil. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.



Notes:
You can use canned coconut milk here, actually works very well. You can soak fresh grated coconut in warm water...just enough water to barely cover the coconut shreds. Keep for 15 minutes. then squeeze out the coconut milk. This first extract is really thick and creamy. Keep aside to use in the curry.
Make sure you soak the khus khus or poppy seeds for at least 30 minutes so they can be blended into a smooth paste or your curry with be very rough.
To make it even creamier or richer throw in a handful of cashews in the paste. You can also fry some cashews and add them to the curry at the last minute.

Kairiche Panhe - Raw mango drink

This drink is made in the summer months and is considered to be very helpful to slake your thirst during the intense heat of summer. This is served with Ambyachi Daal during the Chaitra Gauri Haldi Kumkum.

4 large raw mangoes*
4 TBS Jaggery (preferable yellow jaggery)
Sugar (quantity explained below)
salt
saffron
powdered cardamom

* The mangoes have to be really raw because the tartness of the raw mangoes is what gives this drink its unique taste.

Wash the raw mangoes thoroughly, they sometimes have sap on the skins. Steam the mangoes till completely soft, the skin will split that's when you know they are done. The easiest way is to cook them in a pressure cooker, 2 whistles and 15 minutes on low is the usual time.
When the mangoes are cool, scrape off all the pulp and keep aside.
Melt the jaggery in about a cup of water and keep aside.
Measure the mango pulp and by volume take 3/4 quantity of sugar (if you have one cup of pulp, take 3/4 cup of sugar).
Cover the sugar with just enough water to soak it and make a simple syrup and keep aside.
 Pass the mango pulp through a food mill or a sieve or just run a hand help blender through it.

Mix the blended pulp with the jaggery syrup and the sugar syrup. Add salt - about 1/4 tsp to bring out the flavour of the mango. Add the powdered cardamom and saffron strands.

This thick pulp can be kept in the fridge for a week or so. Just add cold water and ice according to taste and enjoy.

Ambyachi daal - gram with raw mango

 This is a dish unique to the state of Maharashtra from where I come. This is usually made during the month of April when the first raw mangoes of the season appear in the market. This is a must item when we have the Chaitra Gauri Haldi Kumkum along with Ambyache Panhe, a drink made with raw mangoes.



1 cup gram daal (split Bengal gram)
1 large raw mango
2-3 green chillies
6-7 curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp hing (asafoetida)
salt
sugar
2 TBS oil
1 TBS lime juice
chopped coriander

Wash and soak the daal for 6-8 hours, in plenty of water. I usually soak it overnight. This dish is served raw, so the daal has to be soaked thoroughly.

Peel the raw mango and grate it. Finely chop the curry leaves.

Put the soaked daal and chillies through the chopper and pulse it- we do not want a batter, just a rough chop of the soaked daal and the chillies.

In a bowl combine the chopped daal, chillies, coriander, raw mango, salt and sugar.
Heat the oil and temper with the mustard seeds, hing, turmeric and the curry leaves.
Pour the hot oil into the daal mixture. Mix well and pour the lime juice over.

Let this sit for a couple of hours before serving for the flavours to meld.

Sweet Shankarpali

In time for Diwali this super easy and ever popular snack. We had it often - not just during Diwali when we were growing up...sometimes sweet and sometimes the savoury variety (recipe to follow).

1 cup milk
1 cup ghee
1 1/4 cup sugar
5 cups All Purpose flour (approx)
Flour for dusting
ghee for deep frying
pinch of salt.


heat together - milk, sugar and ghee - till the sugar completely dissolves in the milk. Pour this mixture into a large bowl add a pinch of salt and slowly add the flour incorporating it into the liquid. Keep adding flour till it forms a soft dough. It usually takes about 5 cups of flour- but maybe more or less depending on how warm your milk is, or how humid it is that day.

Heat ghee for deep frying.
Roll out the dough onto the counter - medium thickness - and cut into squares. Deep fry the squares -on moderate heat - till golden brown.

This snack really doesn't take too much time or effort to prepare. Just make sure you fry the shankarpalis on moderate heat or the outside will be brown before the inside cooks through.

Happy Diwali.

Sweet Sheera

Sheera - also known as halwa (in north India) is made in each and every Indian household. It is a firm favourite of my little one - this post is for her - Here you go Anagha

1 level cup medium semolina
1 level cup ghee (clarified butter...made by boiling down unsalted butter- on a very very low flame. one pound takes about an hour...but watch carefully after about 45 minutes so it does not burn.)
1 heaped cup sugar
2 cups milk
pinch of saffron
pinch of salt
pinch of cardamom powder (if you have it)

In a heavy bottomed pan, roast the ghee and the semolina on a low flame, for about 15 minutes or till the semolina turns light golden.
Heat the milk - do not bring it to a boil - just heat it through.
When the semolina is roasted, add the hot milk slowly, stirring carefully so lumps don't form. All the milk will get absorbed into the semolina.
Add the cardamom powder (if using), saffron, salt and the sugar.
Stir briskly till it's all mixed in.

Cover and let steam on a very low flame for about 10 minutes.

You can garnish with sliced almonds or raisins or roasted cashews if desired.

OK - for the calorie conscious- and lets face it, all of us are now...you can reduce the amount of ghee - to almost half - it will not change the taste that much but will change the texture a bit- but still is awesome.

Enjoy

Shrikhand

A friend asked for this recipe - so here goes.

1 container Sour Cream OR Yogurt if you want a low-fat variety
Powdered sugar ( confectioners sugar)
Cardamom (5-6 pods)
Nutmeg (1/8 tsp
Saffron (few strands)
Pistachios (sliced)
Almonds (sliced)
Cheesecloth

Tie up the sour cream in cheese cloth and let it hang to drip at least 6 hours. You will have to let it drip overnight if you are using yogurt.
Remove from cheesecloth and measure by volume. Add equal amount by volume of sugar.
This really depends on how sweet you want it and how tart the cream is. I prefer the shrikhand not to be cloyingly sweet. Sometimes it needs about a 1/4 cup of sugar more to each cup of cream.
Beat this mixture well so there are no lumps. Using a whisk is best. Do a taste test for sweetness.

Add powdered cardamom, nutmeg, saffron and the nuts. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple of hours. Serve chilled. You can garnish with sliced nuts when you serve.

Variations:

Instead of the saffron and nuts you can add diced mango for 'amrakhand'. Do not add mango pulp- it does not give the same results.

Enjoy