Green Peas Gravy - A Rich Peas Preparation for Special Occasions

This is a recipe made using fresh green peas. I remember the good old days, when I used to spend, what seemed like hours, shelling peas with my mom. When the peas were tender and sweet, most of them used to end up going into my mouth rather than the bowl. And it always seemed unfair that the heap of shells used to be much larger than the small mound of peas in the bowl. Ah the good old days. I haven't done this for several years now because all I can find in the way of fresh peas in the local grocery stores in the US are snap peas or snow peas. These are so tender, that the peas are barely formed and they are meant to be eaten, shell and all. The frozen peas, which I use instead, are a great convenience and make it much easier to make any dish with peas. However, these are generally sweet and not best suited for spicy curry preparations. But one must make do with what one can find and try to make the best of it.
I am always on the look out for fresh peas, shelled or un-shelled and am hopefully that I will run across this sometime soon.

This is my Mom's recipe and a fantastic one. It needs time and preparation before you can start the cooking process, and the cooking process is lengthy as well, but the end result is finger licking delicious. If made with fresh peas and fresh coconut,  a lot of manual labor is involved, in terms of shelling peas and grating the coconut. That was probably the reason that my Mom made it as a treat and it has been my most favorite peas preparation to date. It tastes amazing with puris or hot chapatis and I too save it for celebratory occasions when I have time to make it right. The last time I made it was a few months ago when I had invited my friends over for lunch and it was a great hit. I hope you make it and it becomes one of your favorites too.

Ingredients
1.5 tbsp oil
1 large or 2 medium red onions, diced finely
1 cup fresh coconut, grated
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1-2 green chillies to taste
1/8 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp dhania jeera/ corriander cumin powder
1/8 tsp turmeric
2 cups frozen peas, washed
salt to taste
2 tbsp to 1/4 cup water to grind ingredients
1- 2 cups water for the gravy

Method
Grind together the coconut, green chilli, cumin seeds and some salt. Add water to the mixture depending on your blender. Add as little as possible to get a smooth paste.
In a pan, heat oil and add the onion to it. Fry the onion till well cooked. Then add the coconut paste as well as ginger and garlic. Fry this mixture, stirring the ingredients often so they don't burn, till it is well browned. The ingredients need to be so well cooked and fried, that you can see the oil start to separate out.  Do this on low heat. If this is done on high heat, the ingredients at the base of the pan will start to burn while the ones at the top will remain under cooked. Then, add the turmeric powder, garam masala and dhania jeera powder and fry this for a couple of minutes. Finally, add the peas and stir to cover them well with the spices. Frozen peas don't need a lot of time to cook through. Finally, add enough water to form a semi thick gravy. Add salt to taste and let the gravy boil for a few minutes. Serve hot with puris or chapati.

Tips
Since you cook the recipe on low heat, it takes about 20-30 minutes for the ingredients to brown. Avoid the temptation of turning up the heat. Cook it on a day when you have the luxury to spend a lot of time to prepare this dish.
You can also use fresh peas instead of frozen peas. If you use fresh peas directly, then it will take longer for the peas to get cooked through as they boil. To speed you the process, you can also boil the peas in a separate pot while your onion mixture gets cooked. Add a tsp of salt to the water. Use enough water to cover the peas. Cook till soft. Then, put them in a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process. Drain and keep aside. You can use these instead of the frozen peas.

Navratan Korma - A Royal Vegetable Dish

I wish all the readers of my blog a very Happy New Year. I hope 2013 brings you good health, happiness and great food. Since food tastes good only when the cook is happy, I hope each day of yours is filled with great joy which in turn will lead to tastier food.

I have been wondering what recipe I should start the new year with and I couldn't make up my mind. Should I start with a starter and follow through with a complete meal or shall I start with a decadent sweet? Well inspiration just struck and I sat down to pen down this wonderful recipe. This is a medley of vegetables, in a rich, flavorful sauce which is also a little sweet. The dish is called "Navratan Korma". "Navratan" means nine gems and "Korma" means a medley. So literally it is a dish which has at least 9 starring ingredients, mainly vegetables, fruit or dry fruit and paneer. It is cooked in a rich cashew based sauce traditionally with cream added to finish it off. I wanted to lighten the recipe. Also, as I was planning to serve this to many people, I did not want to use any nuts in case of allergies. It was a great success and I must say that I received the best compliments from my friend's nine year old who not only ate all the vegetables, but asked for seconds and told her Mom that this was one of the best vegetable curry she had ever tasted.

Ingredients
1 large red onion, finely diced
1 tbsp + 1tsp butter
3-4 canned whole tomatoes (puree it)
1 tsp corriander/dhania powder
red chilli powder to taste
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp corriander-cumin powder (dhania jeera powder)
1 tbsp garam masala
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 green chilli, sliced into 2 pieces
1 potato, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 cup peas
1/4 cauliflower, florets separated into medium size pieces
1/2 cup  green beans, diced
6-7 baby corns, diced into 1 inch pieces (I used canned baby corn)
1/2 cup paneer, diced into 1/2 inch pieces
3-4 sliced of pineapple (I used the ones which are canned, but not in syrup)
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup low fat milk
3/4 cup cream
salt to taste
1 cup water

Method
Heat 1 tsp butter in a flat pan, sprinkle some salt and shallow fry the paneer pieces till they are lightly browned on all sides. Keep aside.

Heat the butter in a pan which will be able to accommodate all the vegetables. Add the red onion and saute it till it is softened and translucent. Then add the ginger garlic paste, and the green chilli and fry this till the raw smell goes away. Next, add the tomato puree and cook this mixture for a few minutes. Stir and do not let this brown. Then add the turmeric, garam masala, dhania jeera powder and dhania powder. Stir and fry these spices for 2-3 minutes. Then add 1/2 cup water. Then, add the potatoes, green beans, carrots, cauliflower and red bell pepper and boil this for a few minutes, till the vegetables a partially cooked through. Then, add the rest of the vegetables, the corn, pineapple, and the peas. And finally add the paneer. Cook all of the ingredients together till the all the vegetables, especially the potatoes and cauliflower are cooked through. Then, in a small bowl, mix the milk and cream together and slowly add this mixture to the gravy. Add salt and raisins and boil for a couple of minutes. Serve hot, with some naan or tandoori roti. You can garnish this with some grapes.

Tips
Feel free to choose any combination of vegetables. You can use fewer than 9 ingredients as well. If you do not want the sweet tinge, then don't add the pineapple and raisins. If you want a richer gravy, then soak 1/4 cup of raw cashews for a couple of hours and make a paste of these cashews.  Add this paste along with the cream instead of milk. You can also add yogurt instead of cream. Make sure to whisk it till it is smooth.
I used canned baby corn and pineapple. If you use the fresh version, then remember the cooking time will increase and you should either add it in along with the potatoes (specially the corn) or may be semi-cook these in the microwave for a minute before adding to the gravy.
If you don't have canned tomatoes, then you can use fresh tomatoes. To peel them, boil water, then add the tomatoes to the boiling water. As soon as you see the skin is starting to tear up, remove these and put them in a bowl of cold water (ice water is preferred). It will be very easy to remove the skins then.

Sweet Corn Soup

This is a wonderful, easy, healthy and absolutely delicious recipe.  It is another one of those Indianized Chinese recipes. I don't even know if this is inspired from an actual Chinese recipe, but it can always be found on the menu in Chinese restaurants in India. It is a very healthy recipe because it incorporates a variety of recipes. It can also prove to be a bit laborious at times, since you need to cut all these vegetables. However, the end result is worth it. If you have a food processor or a chopper then this is becomes a very easy to make recipe.

Ingredients
1 tbsp oil
2-3 cloves garlic, finely diced
1/2 inch ginger, finely grated
1/2 red onion, diced into small pieces
1 celery stalk, cut into thin slices
1 corn on the cob or 1 can of cream style corn
1 carrot, grated or julienned
10-12 green beans, cut into thin diagonal slices
1/2 cup peas
3-4 green onions, cut into diagonal slices, about 1/2 cm in width (both the onion and leaves)
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 green chilli, finely diced (optional, if you want a spicy tinge)
3 cups of water of vegetable broth

Method
If you are using fresh corn on the cob, then pressure cook it and grate it. Alternately you can also steam it till the corn is softened and then grate it.

In a deep pot, heat the oil and add the ginger and garlic to it. If you want to use the chilli, then add it in at this time. Stir and let it cook for a minute and add the diced onion and the onion part of the green onion and cook till softened, next add the celery, beans and carrot. Cook for another couple of minutes, and then add the peas, and the cooked corn (either fresh cooked corn ot the canned corn). Stir and then add the broth or water and let it all boil. Let the soup thicken and cook till all the vegetables are cooked through. Add salt and pepper and mix well.

Garnish with the green onion leaves and serve hot.

Tips
If the vegetables are cooked through and the soup is still very thin, then add a slurry or a paste of 1 tsp of cornflour and 1 tbsp of water. Add the slurry to the soup and boil it and let the soup thicken. If needed you can add a little more of this slurry.

Veg Au Gratin - Baked Vegetables in White Sauce

This is the tastiest veg au gratin ever. A wonderful medley of fresh, crisp vegetables in a rich white sauce, with a delicious layer of browned cheese. My favorite version of this dish is the one I used to eat at a restaurant in Pune. It has always tasted the same, ever since the first day I ate it, some 15 years ago. They serve the same size portion,  accompanied by a piece of garlic toast. It is absolutely the yummiest version of this dish. I was remembering and craving a taste of this dish for the longest time. So, I finally decided to experiment and try it out. It did turn out quite close to the original, so this will do for now.

Note: For variation, instead of adding a layer of cheese and baking it, add some hot sauce and eat the vegetables cooked in white sauce.
Ingredients
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour/maida
2 cups milk (use whole milk, definitely not skimmed milk)
salt to taste
white pepper to taste (can use black pepper if white pepper is not available)
1/4 cup onions, diced into small pieces
1/4 cup peas
1/4 cup potato, diced into small pieces
1/4 cup carrots, diced into small pieces
1 cup shredded cheese
1 tbsp oil

Method
Cook the peas, potatoes and carrots partially. You can do this by cooking them in the  microwave for a couple of minutes. You can also cook them by either adding them to boiling water for a few minutes or steam cooking them for a few minutes. Heat oil in a pan and add the onions. Sautee the onions till they are transluscent. Then add all the vegetables and saute for a couple of minutes. Add salt to taste, turn off the heat and keep aside.

In another deep pan, add the butter and once it melts, add the flour. Cook the flour in the butter till it starts to look slightly pink. Generally at this stage, the raw flour smell disappears. Do not over cook the flour and do not let it turn brown. Then, turn the heat low and add the milk while stirring the mixture with a whisk. It is critical at this stage to keep mixing the milk and flour together so that no lumps are formed. Once the flour is dissolved in the milk, stir it often till it starts to thicken. Add salt and white pepper. As soon as it become thick and gets a sauce like consistency, turn off the heat and add half a cup of grated cheese. Mix thoroughly till the cheese is well incorporated. Add the sauteed vegetables and mix into the sauce. (At this stage all the components are cooked and you can eat the vegetables without baking it further, if you choose.)

Next, pour this mixture into an oven safe dish and layer the remaining cheese on top in an even layer. Bake this for 10-15 minutes at 350F or till the the chee.se has melted and starts to brown slightly.
Serve hot with some garlic bread.

Tips
All the vegetables should be cut to similar size about the size of the peas. If white pepper is available use it. It adds flavor to the white sauce and the specks of pepper cannot be seen in the sauce. If not possible, then add black pepper. If you are using frozen peas, rinse them with water and thaw them out. These will be soft enough and do not need to be cooked again prior to sauteeing. You may want to boil the potato first and then dice it.  You can also use the broil setting on your oven to melt and brown the cheese faster. Make sure you are using a pan that is broiler safe.

If you feel adventurous enough, try adding a few diced pieces of pineapples (canned) along with the rest of the vegetables. The original dish has a few  pineapples pieces in it. However, upon my family's preference,I didn't add it.

Sphagetti with Peas

This is a wonderfully easy and quick recipe to make.  All the different flavors complement each other to create a slightly sweet, sour and savory pasta dish. Most of the times pasta recipes involve some kind of a sauce. This is a great alternative to sauce based pasta recipes. The best part of the recipe is that it involves minimal preparation time, has limited ingredients and still is so delectable that you would want to repeat this often. It is also a great recipe to make when entertaining, easy to scale, elegant and tasty.

Ingredients
1 packet whole wheat sphagetti, cooked per instructions on the box
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 tbsp Italian spice mix
salt to taste
1/4 cup black olived, sliced
4-5 artichoke hearts, chopped - use the pickled variety
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2-3 garlic gloved, finely chopped
Parmigiano Reggiano, also known as Parmesan cheese, to garnish

Method
Heat the olive oil. Add the chopped garlic and let it cook for a minute or so. Then add the peas. Stir fry for a minute, then add the olives, artichokes and Italian spice mix. Stir around, then add the sphagetti. Mix all the ingredients together. Add salt to taste. Add parmesan cheese. Serve hot.

Tips
Cook the pasta in saline water, which means that add sufficient salt to the water that you cook your pasta in so that it tastes salty. This will flavor the pasta and it will not taste bland when added to the other ingredients.