Aloo Matar - Potatoes and Peas in a spicy tomato sauce

I just love Indian food on cold days, infact, I crave it.  It warms up the body, fills you up nicely, and makes your house smell absolutely lovely!  This is one of first recipes I learned, and its one of the easiest.  I made it for my in-laws when they were here and they told me that they felt like they were back in India!  That's right...it's that good!

If you're looking for the creamy, fatty, melt in your mouth type aloo matar you would recieve in a restaurant, you might want to keep looking.  There's no heavy cream.  Not even any half and half.  I didn't even use coconut milk! I cut all that out of this recipe because not only did I think it would taste better without all the milkiness, but it'd be extremely more healthy as well.  I promise, you won't even miss the cream!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. potatoes: peeled, diced & boiled

1 c. green peas (I usually blanch these before using them.)

1 medium red onion, chopped

1 tbsp. cumin seeds

1 tsp. ginger paste

1 tsp. garlic paste

2 roma tomatoes, finely chopped

1 pinch of tumeric

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 pinch white sugar

1/2 tsp or more garam masala (I usually use a LOT)

1 tbsp. oil

green chile, chopped- to your taste

salt, to taste

Directions:

1.  Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan or frypan with deep sides.  Add the cumin seeds. 

When the cumin seeds begin to pop, add the onions and green chiles.  Saute until they are translucent.

2.  Add the ginger paste, garlic paste and tomatoes.  Simmer until the tomatoes are cooked are are like a smooth sauce.  Once they begin to break down I usually grab a potatao masher and just mash everything together.  It just helps the tomatoes to break down quicker.  (this photo is before I mashed the heck out of it).

                                                                                   
3.  Add the turmeric powder, chili powder, garam masala, green peas and potatoes and cook for some time.

Add about 1 1/2 cups of water and salt to taste.  Allow it to come to a boil, turn the heat down and let simmer for a good 20 minutes or until the gravy thickens to your liking.  The longer you let the curry simmer, the better it will taste.  Add some finely diced corriander, and you're done!

TIP:  If you think your gravy is too thin or that you added too much water, mash a few pieces of the potatoes into it.  This will thicken it up nicely.

You woudln't need to serve this with rice, infact a chapati or roti would be the better choice.  My husband, being Bengali, LOVES rice and has to eat it at almost every meal.  I also served this with Indian spiced chicken legs.  Basically I just marinated chicken legs with a bunch of spices, and it was wonderful!  I'll post that the next time I make it because really I didn't write down what I threw in the marinade.

Enjoy! 

Tonight we're having Venison, so stay tuned!

Coconut Ladoo

There's nothing better than Indian sweets!  Although I'm not a huge fan of the liquidy ones like kheer, I love almost all the other ones.  Especially the green ones.  haha...It doesn't really matter what type the sweet is, but if it's green...I claim it.  My husband always gets a kick out of that. 

Anyway, I decided to make some coconut ladoos to bring along to my great-grandfather's birthday party.  My very nordic family can't really handle Indian food.  I try my hardest to get them to try it, and usually they do, but even the mildest dish sends my mom into a tizzy and practically puts my grandpa into cardiac arrest.  It's not a pretty scene.  But sweets they can handle, and naan.  haha...they like naan.

Coconut Ladoos are basically balls of shredded coconut held together by sticky, milky mixture.  They are pretty similar to what they call Narkel Naru in Bengali, at least that's what I have come to decide.  I'm pretty sure they're what I had at Durga Puja, and my goodness...they were fantastic!  They're really, really sweet though and not very good for you.  So you'll just want to make sure you don't eat them all!  ...In one sitting at least. ;-)

Ingredients:

- About 4 cups dessicated coconut, I didn't have time to run to the Indian store so I used shredded coconut from the grocery store--it worked good!

- 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 14 oz

- handful of raisens

- 1 tbsp. ghee

- 1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

- 3/4 tsp. cardamom powder

Directions:

1.  Place a small fry pan over medium heat, add the ghee and let that get hot.  Once the ghee is hot add the raisens.  Fry these for just a little while, until they start to puff up and change colors.

Be very careful not to burn the raisens, or else you have to start over.  Burned raisens will wreck the taste of the ghee and of the ladoos.

Oops!  I burned the raisens!

2.  Set the raisens and ghee aside.  In a second saucepan add the condensed milk and 3 c. of the shredded coconut.  Mix together.

Keep stirring continuously until the mixture starts to clump together and pull away from the sides of the pan.  This will probably take around 5 minutes or so, maybe 7. 

3.  Add the raisens, ghee, vanilla, and cardamom powder.  Stir to mix. 

4.  Remove from heat.  Let cool for about 10 minutes or until you're able to roll the mixture into balls without burning yourself.  I actually found that the cooler the mixture was, the easier it was to work with.  When it was still a little warm it was very, very messy.  Roll the mixture into balls-- whatever size you choose.  I wouldn't do really large ones though because they really are very sweet.  After you form the ball, roll them into some extra dessicated coconut.  This makes them look like pretty little snowballs!

I hope you enjoy this yummy little Indian sweet!  It's an easy one to start with, and really I think they make a pretty addition to a Christmas platter. 

Well, I'm off!  I have to get ready, my mom is coming over and we're going to get some more Christmas shopping done.  I'm one of those last minute shoppers, bakers, Christmas tree-putter-uppers...everything!  haha... That reminds me, Piyush and I have to put our tree up tomorrow.  We've just been so busy, and we want to do it together since it's our first Christmas together being married and it'll be his first time having his own Christmas tree.  He's been pretty excited about it. 

Until next time...!

MMM....Pohe!

I have so many things to post, and I just haven't had the time, unfortunately.  I want to put something up though, so I thought I'd quickly post the Pohe I made for an after work snack last night.  My husband calls this tiffin, and he gets kind of grumpy if he doesn't have tiffin.

My mother-in law taught me how to make this dish when they were visiting back in August, and I've got to tell you, it's probably one of my favorite things.  It's so easy to make, it's not so spicy---so even my mom will eat it, and it's filling.

This dish comes from Maharastria and my husband fell in love with it when he was growing up in Mumbai.  I add a few of my own special touches to the dish ---like a handful of dried fruits (he'd rather I left these out, but this American has got to have a little sweetness).  You can also add potatoes to the dish, infact, I reccommend it.  My mother in law didn't teach me to add potatoes, but my husband insists that it tastes even better with them added.

Poha is the rice that you use to make this dish.  Its basically a flattened, puffed rice.  Its hard and dry.  My mom said it reminds her of those boxed potato flakes.  Its really easy to reconstitute.  You just put it in a strainer and run some water over it until its all moist. That's how I do it anyway.  You don't want it to be soaked, and you don't want it to be sitting in water.  You just want to run it under the faucet until the rice is no longer hard and dry.  It should be soft and moist---but not wet.  If that makes sense?   Poha comes in 2 variaties, thick and thin.  I've only used the thick, and I'm pretty sure that's the type you want to use when making Pohe.  You can find it at the Indian grocery store.  Sometimes supermarkets have really good "ethnic" food sections, so you can check there too, but I would bet you'll have to take a trip to the Indian market...and that's a good thing!  You can find so many neat ingredients and yummy things there!  I could spend a good hour in the Indian market here in town, and it's tiny!

Now, on to the Pohe!

Ingredients:

• 2 c. Pohe
• 2 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped (prefer red onion)
• 1+ serrano chiles, chopped or sliced (to your taste)
• 1/4 c. almonds, roughly chopped
• handful of raisens or dried cranberries
• 1/2 - 2/3 c. frozen peas
• 1 tsp. sugar
• salt, to taste
• about 2 tbsp oil
• 1-2 fresh roma tomatoes, diced
• chopped corriander

Directions:

1.  Put the poha in a strainer.  Run the strainer under the faucet to moisten the poha.  Be careful not to over-soak the rice, but you also don't want to be stingy with the water.  You don't want dry poha added into your dish.  Set this aside.   (Most of the time I will pour my ground tumeric powder on top of the poha and let it sit in the strainer.  I don't stir it in.  Just let it sit on top.  You don't have to do this.  You can add it later, as I am recommending in this recipe).

2.  Heat the oil in a pan, you want a fairly large pan or you'll have ingredients falling out all over the place eventually.  Add the onions and fry until they are beginning to brown.  Add the chile, almonds, and fruits.  Stir fry for a couple minutes, then add the frozen peas.  Keep stirring until they soften up and everything becomes nice and fragrant.

3.  Add the salt, to taste and also the sugar.  Stir everything together.

This is how I add my salt and sugar.  I'm real exact.

4.  Add the poha and the ground turmeric powder to the pan and gently mix everything together.  I know its mixed well when everything is yellow. 

5.  Once everything turns yellow, add the diced tomato.  stir them gently. You don't want to break them up, you just want to heat them.  Add the chopped corriander.  Stir everything together, make sure the salt is correct...and serve.  YUM! and fast!  For me, this is the Indian equivalent to mashed potatoes, you know?  Good, comfort food. 

Well, now I'm off to make some buttercream icing.  I've got a cake to make, among other things.  My friend is having her bridal shower tomorrow and I'm in charge of bringing all sorts of goodies.  My husband also lost his keys yesterday in this huge snowstorm we were having, and one of our neighbors was shoveling and found them!  So I'm baking them cookies.  Hopefully I can get Piyush to help decorate them.  That'd be fun!  I also have to take my vehicle to get looked at.  In the huge storm, my heater decided it was time to die.  I don't know how I did it, but I had to drive in blizzard conditions with unthawable frost on my windshild.  Haha, every time I even breathed the windsheild would fog up more.  Good thing I went to college wayyyy up north.  Those years of living on the north-shore definitely taught me how to drive in bad weather.  Luckily my dad lives close and is in the car business, I should have my heater back and running soon.  I don't know what I'd do without my dad.  He's a life-saver, definitely!

Swaagat hai! Welcome! and a Trip down memory lane...

After months and months of saying I was going to start a blog, I have finally decided to do it. I had a blog once, for about 5 or 6 years actually. It was around 2000 or so and they weren't quite popular yet. I was a teenager and it became some sort of theraputic outlet for me. Maybe this one will become the same.

I'll start with an introduction. My name is Shari, and I love to cook. Actually, I love to experiment. Once I find a recipe that works I seldom stick to that recipe. Once, I made Chicken Tikka Masala to perfection. Only once. Afterwards, I decided that since I've conquered it I could afford to improvise. It doesn't usually work. My unfortunate husband, Piyush ends up eating all sorts of wild, Indo-American creations. I call them the "Shari Specials". He doesn't complain though. No, he ne never complains, but he does critique. And between you and me, he is one hard critic.

Piyush is the one who taught me how to cook Indian food. He taught me Chicken Curry...and can you believe it, the first time I made it he told me I made better curry than he did. He may have been joking, but I took him seriously. I seldom ever use the recipe he taught me anymore, mostly because I like a little thicker gravy and he prefers a watery curry.

Look....Here is the very first time I ever learned to make curry, the photos are kind of silly, but they're all in good fun!  I'll also include a quick run-down of his recipe if you're interested.  There aren't really any measurements, and I guess with most of the things I cook there aren't.  I can guess, but really a lot of it depends on tasting your own food and deciding for yourself how spicey you like it.  I promise his curry tastes really good, I might even make it for him tomorrow as a surprise (with a few of my own special touches, of course!).

Piyush's Chicken Curry

First, heat some oil in a saucepan.  Pour some Cumin seeds in. 

That might be a lot of cumin, I'm not sure.  It's probably a tablespoon?  Let those heat in the oil until you hear them start to pop.  You don't want to let them sit unattended though, or else they will burn.  This will wreck the flavor of your entire dish.

This is the photo we took so that I would remember what ingredients to use to make the curry when I decided to try and make it myself.  Funny thing though, I never recall using the chicken curry masala...I don't even recall him using that.  ...weird.

Next Add 1 medium chopped onion.  Piyush prefers the purple ones.  Let the onion fry until it is translucent. Once it's at that point he likes to add his tomato sauce.  Piyush prefers Prego.  haha, I personally think the Italian seasonings mess with the Indian flavor, but he says it's easy.  If you would like you can use fresh tomatoes (as I do) or even just plain tomato sauce with a little tomato paste.

My hubby (then, boyfriend) chopping some chicken, I think.

After that simmers awhile (or once your fresh tomatoes break down and kind of turn to a mushy paste) you would add some ground corriander, turmeric, black pepper, garam masala, salt, cumin powder, ginger paste and garlic paste.

Now...add the chicken!   Stir and fry for a couple minutes and then add about 2 cups of water or maybe a little more, depending how watery you like your curry to be.

Let the curry sit on a medium-high heat for about 45 minutes or so, until the chicken is cooked through at least.  The longer it cooks, the better it will taste.

2 happy kids makin' some curry

...and that is a little about me, and how I learned to cook Indian food.

Aloo Posto & Prawn Malai Curry

(Potatoes with Poppyseeds and Creamy Shrimp Curry)

This meal was delightful!  The shrimp curry was really awesome---believe me!  I don't even like shrimp and this has quickly become one of my favorite curries to make.  This meal is traditionally Bengali, or so I have been told.  India is much like the United States in the fact that cuisine varies from region to region.  For example, if you order pizza in Chicago it won't be the same as pizza in Texas, or New York.  It's the same in India.  If you order a dish in the east, chances are very likely it won't be anything like the dishes in the south. 

Most Americans are used to eatting North Indian Dishes; dishes like Chicken Tikka Masala (which is actually British, although I guess this may be argued), Rogan Josh, Mutter Paneer and Chicken Briyani.  My husband was raised in Mumbai, so I'm sure there will be a few Maharashtrian dishes such as Pohe and Pav Bhaji making appearances on my blog. 

Aloo Posto

• 4 Tablespoons Indian Poppyseeds (these are white in color)
• 3 large potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2" cubes
• 2 tbsps vegetable/ canola/ sunflower/olive cooking oil (I usually use much less, use what you are comfortable with)
• 2 green chillies slit lengthwise and deseeded ---This will just give the dish flavor and not much heat.  I usually leave the seeds in and chop the chiles up.
• Salt to taste.

Directions

1. Put the poppyseeds (postu) in a bowl and add enough warm water to cover it completely. Soak for 5 minutes. Now grind in a food processor or with a stick blender to get a smooth paste. You can also use a mortar and pestle as it is done traditionally but it takes time and effort! Keep postu paste aside for late use. This step is hard.  I actually recommend using a coffee or spice grinder.  Keep some water in with the seeds though so that your end product is a paste.

2.  Meanwhile, boil the diced potatoes until they are almost cooked.  You don't want to cook them all the way, because you will be frying them later.  You could also steam the potatoes if you'd like, although this won't yeild a traditional aloo postu, or so my husband said when he realized I decided to steam them.  They turn out just fine though! :-)

3. Heat the cooking oil in a pan on medium heat. When hot, add the slit green chillies. To make the dish hotter you can grind the green chillies to a paste. If using whole green chillies, wait for the spluttering to stop after adding them to the hot oil. When this happens, add the diced potatoes to the pan. Stir fry until fully cooked. Add salt to taste. You might need to sprinkle some water over them as they cook, to prevent burning or sticking to the pan.
 
4. When the potato is cooked (soft), turn off the heat and add the postu paste and stir well. Spoon into a dish and serve.

This is really an easy dish to make.  It doesn't really strike me as something I would make when someone requests Indian food, but let me tell you....it packs a lot of flavor.  I'm sure if you tried it, you'd like it!
 

Shrimp Malai Curry

• 1 lb. large shrimp
• 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons oil, or to your judgement
• 3/4 onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 2 inch piece of cinnamon stick
• 5 whole cloves (I grind mine before throwing them in, but you can leave them whole)
• 7 cardamom pods
• 5 Indian bay leaves (I have used regular bay leaves, and those work fine as well)
• 3/4 inch piece of ginger, grated or about 1 tablespoon ginger paste
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped or about 1 tablespoon garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon chili powder - be careful with this.  I put this in to taste.
• 3/4 cup lite coconut milk - skim the "cream" off the top and use that, preferably.  It will make the dish taste more authentic.

Directions

1. Peel and devein the shrimp, leaving the tails intact.  Or, be lazy like me...go to Sam's Club and buy a giant bag of precooked shrimp where all that work is already done for you.  Put them in a bowl, add the lemon juice, then toss them together and leave them sit for around 5 minutes.  Rinse the Shrimp under cold water and pat dry.

2. Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan and fry the onion until lightly browned.  Add the turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, bay leaves, ginger and garlic and fry until fragrant.  About one minute, or so.  Add the chili powder, coconut milk and salt to taste and slowly bring to a boil. 

3. Reduce the heat and simmer for around 2 minutes.  Add the shrimpies and return to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the shrimp are cooked through and the sauce is thick.  

Usually after I have added my shrimp I let it simmer for around 15-20 minutes and just kind of forget about it.  It needs some time for the flavors to blend and for the sauce or "gravy" to thicken.  This curry is wonderful.  I honestly don't like shrimp.  I am 25 years old, so it has taken me a quarter of a century to find a recipe that makes shrimp taste yummy to me.  I promise, you'll LOVE this curry! 

One of the most important tips I've learned about cooking Indian food is that you really have to taste your food as you cook it.  The levels of spices can either make or break a recipe and what tastes good to one person can be overwhelming to the next.  Be careful when adding chili powder, salt and yogurt to recipes.  Those are the three ingredients that tend to mess with my food on occasion. 

I hope some of you enjoy these recipes as much as I did!  Let me know if you try them and how they turned out, I'd love to hear if you tried anything differently or if you have your own take on these recipes!