Beans and Celery Soup

A very healthy, tasty and filling soup.
I mixed kidney beans and black beans in this recipe. However, you can add any other bean you like.
If you are using raw beans, then you need to soak the beans for about 4-5 hrs and pressure cook them till done. You can avoid this by using canned beans. Totally up to you.

Ingredients:

• Kidney Beans - 1/2 cup
• Black Beans - 1/2 cup
• Celery - 3 stalks
• Onion- 1 small
• Garlic - 2 cloves
• Vegetable Broth - 4-5 cups
• Butter - 1 tbsp
• Basil, Parsley and Oregano Mix - 1/2 tsp ( Replace with your favorite herbs )
• Salt - to taste
• Pepper - to taste

Directions: 

• Heat butter in the saucepan. Saute minced garlic. Saute finely chopped onions till translucent. 
• Add vegetable broth, pressure cooked beans ( or canned ), Chopped celery.
• Bring it to boil. Cook till celery is done. ( I prefer my celery a little crispy , so I do not cook it till very soft. But again, it's totally up to you how you like your's )
• At the end, season with the herbs and salt and pepper.
• Serve hot with garlic toast. 

Baingan Masala ( Eggplant Curry )

Brinjals or Eggplants are a good source of folic acid and this is the vegetable which has the maximun recipes. They can be made in more than 65 ways. Hence it is often described as " King of Vegetables "

I have here used the small round eggplants.

Ingredients:

• Small Eggplants - 8-10
• Onion- 2 medium
• Tomato - 1 ( or tomato paste - 1/4 cup)
• Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
• Curry Leaves - 1 spring
• Hing ( asafoetida ) - a pinch
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Coriander-Cumin Powder - 1 tsp
• Red Chili Powder - to taste 
• Salt - to taste
• Water - 1 cup
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Cilantro - for garnish

Directions: 

• Slit eggplants into cross shape only 3/4th way through, keeping the stem intact. Do not separate into halves.
• Microwave them just for a couple of minutes or shallow fry so that they are little soft. You do not need to cook it fully. This process is just to speed up the cooking process. You can avoid this step and directly cook which will take a little longer.
• Keep these eggplants aside.  

Shallow Fried Eggplants

• Now heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Add hing. If you want to add green chilies, this is the time you add. But I haven't. I chose to use red chili powder. Add curry leaves.
• Saute ginger garlic paste. Saute finely chopped onions until they turn slightly brown.
• Add finely chopped tomatoes and cook till mushy. 
• Add coriander-cumin powder, turmeric powder, red chili powder at this point and mix well. 
• Add a cup of water and add the half fried eggplants to the gravy. Add salt and cook till the eggplants are done or till the gravy stats oozing out the oil. ( adjust water according to your preference. )
• At the end add chopped cilantro. Serve with chapati or paratha or plain steamed rice or pulav.

Dahi Bhalla

Dahi Bhallas are very popular north Indian street food. It is a cold appetizer which consists of wadas made of urad dal and soaked in spiced curds.
The south Indian counterpart of this is Dahi wada or Avadalu which is slightly different from this one in the way the wadas are made and the way the curds are spiced up.

Ingredients :

For Bhallas:

• Urad Dal ( Black Gram without skin ) - 1 cup
• Ginger - 1 inch piece ( grated )
• Green Chilies - 1-2 finely chopped
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - for deep frying

For Curd Mix: 

• Curd - 4 cups
• Water - 2 cups
• Rock Salt - 1 tsp
• Sugar - 2 tbsp
• Red Chili Powder - to taste
• Roasted Cumin Seeds Powder - 2 tbsp
• Chopped Coriander - to garnish

Directions: 

• Soak the urad in water for about 4-5 hrs. Grind into a smooth paste with very little water.
• Take it out in a mixing bowl. Add salt to taste and pat and beat the batter with hands in a mixing bowl for aeration. This is important for getting soft wadas. When you put a small amount of batter in a cup of water, it should float. If the aeration is not done well, the batter sinks and sits at the bottom.
• Add finely chopped green chilies and grated ginger to the bater and mix well.
• Heat oil in a deep pan or wok. Keep a bowl of water ready. Wet your hands and take a small portion of batter and drop in into hot oil. Make 5-6 wadas at a time depending upon the size of your wok.
• Fry until golden brown in medium heat and take them out on a paper towel. Repeat this process with the remaining batter.
• Keep a large bowl of luke warm water ready. Drop all these fried wadas into the water and soak them in water just for about 2 minutes.
• Take them out and squeeze out the water very gently, without breaking them.

• In a wide bowl, whisk curds, water ,sugar, salt, roasted cumin powder, red chili powder.  The curd should be slightly sweet, not much, so do not add more sugar.
• Add the wadas to this curd and sprinkle some more chili powder and roasted cumin powder on top. 
• Also garnish with chopped cilantro.

Variation: 

• Add Green Chutney and Tamarind Chutney on top while serving. Oh !! It tastes amazing. 

Click here for the recipe of Dahi wada or Avadalu .

Saute Onions Faster

• To speed up the process of browning the onions , add just a pinch of salt to it. It will saute faster.  

Tomato Paratha

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes - 2
• Carom Seeds - 1 tsp
• Chopped Cilantro - 2 tbsp
• Wheat Flour - 2 cups
• Salt - 1/2tsp
• Water  - for kneading
• Ghee - to sprinkle

Directions: 

• Blanch tomatoes and make tomato puree and keep aside. You can also use canned tomato paste instead.
• In a mixing bowl, take flour add salt, carom seeds, chopped cilantro and tomato puree. Knead the dough using very little water at a time. 
• Make lime sized balls of the dough and roll them into 6 inch diameter discs. 
• Tossing the disc in the dry flour while rolling prevents it from sticking it to the rolling pin.
• Pre heat the tawa ( griddle ) and layout this roti on the hot tawa .
• cook till both the sides are done.
• Sprinkle few drops of ghee on the surface.

For detailed steps on how to make roti , click here.

Carrot Rasam

Add carrot puree to the simple rasam and make it more healthy.

Ingredients:

• Chopped Carrots - 1 cup
• Tamarind - small lime sized
• Rasam Powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Water - 2 cups
• Salt -to taste
• Cilantro - 2 springs

For Tadka :

• Ghee - 1 tbsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Asafoetida- a pinch
• Curry Leaves - 1 spring
• Red whole chili - 1-2

Directions: 

• Boil the chopped carrots and puree it after cooling a bit. Do not throw the water in which you boiled carrots. Use the same water for making rasam.
• Soak tamarind for 10 minutes and extract the juice.
• Heat the water you saved earlier, add tamarind extract, turmeric powder, rasam powder and pureed carrot. Bring it to boil. Add salt.
• For tadka, heat ghee in a small pan, splutter mustard seeds, then cumin seeds, add asafoetida, curry leaves, chili. Pour it over the rasam. Add chopped cilantro and turn off the heat.

Variation:  You could add tomatoes to the rasam. You could also add half a cup of boiled toor dal to it.

Jowar ki Roti ( Jonna Rotte )

Jowar ki roti is an Indian flat bread made of sorghum. It is very healthy. It is gluten free and rich in fiber.

Making this roti is slightly difficult than the regular roti, nevertheless, it is worth the try. Moreover, as they say, practice makes perfect.
This is my first attempt. It came out well, but I hope to get better the next time.

Ingredients: 

• Jowar Flour ( Sorghum ) - 1 cup
• Boiling water - 1 cup
• Salt - 1/4 tsp
• Ghee to sprinkle.

Directions:

• In a mixing bowl, mix flour and salt. Knead the dough with hot water. Do not use your hand as the water is hot, knead with a spatula.
• Once the temperature is low, knead with hand for a couple of minutes. You can add 1/4 tsp of  oil while kneading. Keep aside for 10 minutes.

• Take a portion of  the dough and make it into a smooth ball.

• On a greased sheet ( foil or plastic ) roll this ball with your hand. Dust it with dry flour.

• Then with the help of a rolling pin, roll a little more very lightly.

• Slowly lift the roti and place it on a hot griddle or tawa.  Brush the surface of this roti with some water.

• Flip it after a minute. Sprinkle a litte ghee on this side, and cook for a minute and flip again. This is when you will see the roti puffing up.

• Cook till both the sides are golden and crispy.
• Enjoy with any curry of your choice.

Pav Bhaji

Pav Bhaji, the most popular street food from Mumbai, but eaten all across the country.
It is mixed vegetable curry served with toasted pav ( bread or bun ).

Ingredients:

• Onion - 1 big
• Tomatoes - 2 
• Potatoes - 2 big
• Finely Chopped cauliflower - 2 cups
• Fresh or Frozen Green Peas - 1/2 cup
• Green Chilies - 3-4 ( or to taste )
• Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp
• Red Chili Powder - to taste ( optional )
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Pav Bhaji Masala - 2 tbsp
• Salt - to taste
• Chopped Cilantro- for garnish
• Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp
• pavs - 4
• Butter - for roasting pavs

Directions: 

• Boil potatoes, cauliflower and green peas. Mash them all and keep aside.
• Heat oil in a pan and saute finely chopped onion. Then add ginger garlic paste and saute.
• Add chopped green chillies and chopped tomatoes and cook till the tomatoes are totally mushy.
• Add turmeric powder, chili powder, salt and cook for about a couple of minutes.
• Now add all the boiled and mashed vegetables along with 3/4 cup of water and mix very well.
• Add Pav Bhaji Masala and cook for about 15 min. Add more water if it is too thick.
• Adjust salt. You can either add a little butter at this point or add while serving.
• Garnish with chopped cilantro and add lime juice. The bhaji is ready.
• Now heat a griddle and toast the pavs with a little butter till they look slightly golden in color.
• Serve pavs with hot bhaji along with chopped onions for side.