Okra (Bhindi) Masala

I love okra in long pieces but I hate to do it the long way my grandmom used to do (by filling masala in each piece of okra). It sure tasted good but I am too lazy to do the long version. So heres a fast and easy way and still get a tasty recipe.

Ingredients:

1.   Okra (roughly 25 pieces)
2. olive oil (1 tbsp)
3. 1/2 onion (cut into long thin pieces)
4. 1/4th slit capsicum (or maybe 2 tbsp of frozen one)
5. cumin seeds (1/2 tsp)
6. salt (3/4th tsp)
7. haldi (1/4th tsp)
8. coriander powder (1/2 tsp)
9. hing(1/4th tsp)
10. Green chilli (1 split into half)
11. besan (1 tsp)

Procedure:

1.  Wash the okra and pat dry with a towel. Drying is important or else it would be very sticky.

2. Cut the okra pcs top and bottom . Then slit each pc into half.

3.  In a pan heat oil and then add cum seeds, okra and hing. saute and cover pan for 4 mins till okra  has  a little brown sides.

4. Then add onions, capsicum. cover for 5 mins on med- low flame  and keep frying.

4. Add green chilli, salt, haldi, coriander powder and keep fryin, covering the pan ocassionally to save in flavors. Keep frying till everything looks almost done.

5. Now add besan and saute for 2 mins or till it looks ready. Its done, njoy delcious bhindi masala :)

Quick green chana

Its a lazy sunday but what can be done if I am craving chane with rice. So for those kinda days, I keep a packet of frozen green chana which does not require soaking like black ones but tasts just like them. They are such good source of protein and I need all the protein I can take with a 1 yr old around. But as you all know I am not a big fan of lengthy recipes so here's a quick and under 20 mins way to cook your fav green chana with rice.

 
For Rice (makes for 2): Wash and soak 1 katori/bowl of rice in water for 10 mins and then put twice the water (2 katoris/ bowl) in a microwave friendly dish along with salt and 1 tsp pf ghee and microwave on high for 14 mins and rice would be ready.

For Gree chana (makes for 2)
Ingredients:

• Green chana frozen (roughly 3/4 katori)- washed and thawed in warm water
• onion- 1 small sized     
• green chilli-1
• ginger- small pc
• garlic- 1-2 pcs
• tomato- 1 small sized
• haldi- 1 pinch
• salt- 1 tsp
• cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp
• garma masala- 1/4 tsp
• chicken curry masala -3/4 tsp
• coriander powder- 1/4 tsp
• cilantro- for garnishing

Procedure:

• Make masala for gravy out of onion, tomato, green chilli, ginger, garlic. so out of my ingredients I got roughly 1 cup pf puree.
• In a pressure cooker add ghee, then add cumin seeds once ghee is hot.

•  Now add the masala for gravy in cooker and keep stirring for 3-4 mins.
• Then add haldi, coriander powder, chicken curry masla and keep stirring till gravy leaves ghee and looks like the image on right side.

  
•  Now add water (approx 2 tbsp more than thickness of gravy required. Add in salt, let it  come to a boil and close pressure cooker. Now get 8-9 whistles on high flame.

•  Open pressure cooker once all steam is out. Add in garma masala and gave a good stirr. Garnish with cilantro. Your green chana is ready njoy with rice and pickle.

Lauki Daal

My husband had this at an Indian restaurant and really liked it. So to make him happy, I made it today and omg, it tasted too good. Its such an easy recipe and so heallthy. Its a good twist to same old boring daal or just ghiya and feels wholesome. Here's the recipe, njoy :)

Ingredients:

1. 1 small lauki (cut into 1/4th inch pcs)
2. chana daal (1/2 katori soaked for an hr)
3. 1/4 onion (cut into small pcs)
4. 1 inch ginger grated
5. 1 dry red chilli broken                                  
6. hing (1/2 tsp)
7. salt (3/4th tsp)
8. haldi (1/4th tsp)
9. ghee (1 tbsp)
10. garam masla (1/2 tsp)
11. jeera (1/2 tsp)
12. cilantro for garnishing

Procedure:

• In a pressure cooker, add ghee. Add in jeera, onions, hing, haldi, red chillli, grated ginger and saute.

Add in ghiya pcs and saute for 1 min.

Add in the soaked daal. Now add 3 katori water approx. Dont overadd water since lauki has water in it. Close pressure cooker and get 3 whistles on high and then simmer for 7-8 mins.

Open pressure cooker once all steam is out. Add in cilantro and garam masala and give a good stir

Delicious lauki daal is ready, njoy :)

Gobhi Masala

Ingredients:

1.  Half bunch of gobhi pieces (washed and completely dried)
2. 1/2 katori frozen peas
3. half onion (sliced in long halves)
4. tomato - 1
5. ginger- 1/2 inch pc
6. green chilli-1
7. salt- 1 tsp
8. haldi- 1/2 tsp
9. ajwain- 1/2 tsp
10. olive oil- 1 tsp
11. butter- 1 tbsp
12. cilantro for garnishing

Process:

• In a pan heat oil and butter, once hot.

• Add onion along with ajwain and saute on low-med flame till onions are a little brown.

• Make a puree of tomato, ginger, green chilli

• Add in the puree once onions are red. Now keep frying for half a minute. Add in pcs of gobhi and cover pan and keep frying, till gobhi is half done.

• On the side, microwave the frozen peas in half cup of water for 5 mins.

• Once gobhi is half done, add microwaved peas and saute for a minute.

• Add in salt, haldi and cover pan for like 15 mins and keep stirring ocassionally. Keep on low-med flame.

• Keep stirring till done. Add in cilantro for garnishing. Njoy tasty gobhi is ready. make sure to make some raita or daal to njoy it with :)

Nuby 4 Pack Spoon and Fork Review

                                   Nuby 4 Pack Spoon and Fork set Review

I recently won a Nuby 4 Pack Spoon and Fork set by entering Nuby facebook contest.  I must admit, I and my Baby girl love them. These fork and spoon sets are colorful and sized especially for child's small hands so my baby could easily hold it. The easy grip design makes it easy for a child's hands to hold. My baby has started showing great interest in feeding herself but all kind of spoons were too big and she could hardly hold them long without messing up. So it was important to have utensils that are safe for my baby, Nuby spoons are easy for little hands to hold and use. She could easily scoop out and eat baby food on her own without any mess even at age 1.

Whats great is that this colorful starter set is designed to meet all of these special needs for either left-handed or right-handed babies. The soft-grip handle and variety of attractive colors , promote self-feeding. She loves the fun color. Its dishwasher safe on top rack.

 She was so proud of herself when she could use her spoon and feed herself. Look at the content face, priceless !!! 
The set includes two sets of of fork and spoon and available in several color options. But after seeing the colors, I am sure you would want to buy them all. Dont worry, they are really affordable. The price for the set is less than $4. Now thats a fun deal. I would surely look for more baby products to try from Nuby line and post my review.

Quick tasty baingan bharwan masala (stuffed brinjals)

I love bharwan baingan but I am not the types who can spend hours making something. So I tried making my own version of bharwan baingan and was so content with the outcome. Here's the recipe, enjoy.

Ingredients:

1. 8 small baingan (Eggplant)
2. olive oil - 1 tbsp

For Filling

1. red chilli powder-  1/4 tsp
2. garam masala- 1/4th tsp
3. haldi- 1/4th tsp
4. coriander powder- 1/2 tsp
5. masala from any ready store bought mixed veg pickle- 1 tsp
6. sounf- 1/8 tsp grinded
7. methra grounded- 1/8 tsp

Process

•    Mix all filling ingredients in a bowl.
• Wash, clean the brinjals (baingan) and slit it center, ( get quartered shape by slitting twice ). Stuff in the filling .
• In a pan heat oil , add in stuffed brinjals . Keep on medium flame and cover. Gradually turn the brinjals, ensure that the stuffing doesn’t come out. Cook over low/medium for 10-15 minutes, turning occasionally till they are almost done. 

•  Now transfer stuffed brinjals in a microwave friendly dish and microwave on high for 2-3 mins. Its done, garnish with cilantro leaves (optional).

Before microwaving pic:

After microwaving pic:

Hope you Enjoy it like the way we did :)

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