Bar bar baingan - with recipes now!!

For the unfamilar few, the post title is in Hindi and it means -brinjal (eggplant) again n again.

Well, I did promise the baingan bharta to anyone who followed what I was saying last week. Addicted to my own cooking, I did make it again... and managed to recreate the magic (what my dad says is the mark of a good chef)... alright alright, enough peethal (tamil for uncalled-for praise). Here's a pic of the subji... The light was gone outside and I had to resort to the good old yellow ceiling lighting and hence the bad photo. But I assure you it tasted way more delicious than it looks. Also, I was out of cilantro and didn't want to stock some so close to leaving, hence the boring garnishing.


And what did I have it with? My indian bread speciality - theplas :D. Made enough for the whole week. Take a look -

Leave me a comment if you're interested in either recipe. I'll be happy to share. Happy tucking in!

RECIPES -
Well, there was atleast one request for the recipe... so here goes.
Hint - Read blue-coded words for the order in which to add ingredients.

Baingan Bharta -
Ingredients
1. 1 medium-sized eggplant
2. 1 large onion
3. 1 can of tomatoes/2-3 medium sized tomatoes
4. 2 cloves of garlic
5. For seasoning - mustard seeds, jeera seeds, 1 tsp each of dhaniya (mustard) power & jeera powder, 2 dry red chilis, 1/2 tsp of red chili powder, a pinch of turmeric and salt to taste.
6. For garnishing - a fresh sprig of coriander leaves
7. For cooking - 1 tbsp of oil

How to make it
1. Heat the oil in medium-high for 2-3 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the onion up into medium-sized pieces.
2. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic, finely chopped and the dry red chilis.
3. As the garlic starts turning brown, add the cut onions and some salt, so that the onion releases it's juices and cooks in them.
4. Once the onions get done, add a pinch of turmeric and dump the can of tomatoes into it. Add the dhaniya, jeera and red chili powders to it and stir well. Cover the saucepan and allow to cook for about 5 minutes to allow all the masalas to seep into the onion-tomato mix. Set aside.
5. Prepare the eggplant to be roasted/smoked on the gas/hotplate. Put 2-3 drops of oil on your hand and rub it through the entire eggplant to coat it everywhere will a thin film of oil. This prevents the eggplant from burning and aids even cooking on the inside.
6. Turn the gas to medium-high and once it's hot, hold the eggplant by the stem or using a pair of tongs and place directly on the gas. After a minute of two of steaming, once you turn the eggplant a bit, you can see that the skin starts peeling slowly. Do this on all sides, including the bottom so that the eggplant is cooked throughly on the inside. It should look something like this -

Set asideto cool off.
7. By now, your onion-tomato mix would've cooled reasonably. Grind it into a coarse mixture in the mixi, not too fine, to make sure that you have some chunks remaining. This is your gravy.
8. Once the eggplant has cooled down, run it under water and peel away all of the skin. The eggplant should've lost all its firmness and can now be cut into small pieces or mashed into a mixture to be added to the gravy.
9. Heat 1tsp of oil in the saucepan and allow mustard-jeera seeds to sputter. Add the chopped/mashed eggplant and cook for a minute before adding the gravy and mixing everything evenly.
10. Garnish with coriander and serve with parathas/phulkas/theplas or steamed rice.
Note: Smoking the eggplant is what distinguishes the baingan bharta from any ordinary baingan subji. Do not skip this step.

Theplas
Ingredients (for about 20 mid-sized theplas)
1. 4-5 cups of whole wheat flour
2. Condiments: 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of red chili powder, 1tsp of sugar, pinch of turmeric
3. 2 cups of water, more or less
4. 2 tsp of oil

How to make it
1. Add the condiments to the dry flour and mix well.
2. Add the water in small portions while kneading the dough with your fingers to a smooth consistency. Stop adding water when the dough has reached the right consistency. (Hint: If the dough is too dry, it will flake while rolling out the theplas. Make sure it is a little sticky).
3. Rub the oil in your fingers and knead into the dough.
4. Set aside for 1-2 hours (Hint: Make your subji in the meantime to save time overall!)
5. Roll out like chapathis, except you don't need extra flour to roll them out. They should be easier to roll than chapathis.
6. Cook on a tava like chapathis, using the flame itself to have them 'ball-up' like phulkas as well. (It tastes just as good even if you don't do it that way).

Advantages: They are spicier and tastier than normal chapathis and make for a good change. They also last longer and are a great snack with chai.
Enjoy!

Happy Vijayadasami!

Happy Dussera or Vijayadasami to you all! And the main reason I am reviving the blog today is the belief amongst South Indians at least, that whatever you do on this day.. you will continue to do the rest of the year. Vijayadasami falls on the day after Saraswati Pooja (the day we are supposed to pray Saraswati- the Goddess of knowledge) and hence honor her by not studying anything. However the day after, i.e. today signifies the day that the Hindu God Ram triuphed over his nemesis, Ravan and returned to his hometown of Ayodhya. But as it happens, over the years, in addition to the golu and the yummy food on this day, it is typical for one to do “everything” they wish to do the whole year. So people study a bit, classes for arts (singing, dancing etc commence on this day as the first day of the year), they do whatever else that they enjoy in the hope that it’ll last.

However, it being Paris and it being Sunday, the festivities stand reduced a bit. Yes, we did poojai yesterday and today. We kept our books in prayer yesterday and “studied” a bit today (thanks to me doing PhD, it makes a lot more sense than otherwise), I sang a bit and then… settled for a cookathon. I’ve only just exited the kitchen after 2 long hours where I cooked away to glory. With Friends playing ont he mini-DVD player installed atop one of the counters, it barely felt like “work” at all. And here are the results -

 Bottom-up: 50+ theplas, Kadai Subji and Dal tadka.

And here’s a closer look at the dishes. Should you need any recipes, drop me a line; The theplas of course are an old favourite and you can find the recipe here.

                                Theplas. Serve with dal or any subji, pickles or good old chai!

                   Kadai subji or Subji Mughalai – Tomato based- gravy stewed with mixed vegetables. 

Dal Tadka. Cooked yellow dal (moong) garnished with split green chillies, curry leaves and tempered with mustard seeds and jeera. 

 

So, Bon Appetit and Happy Vijayadasami!

PS: I owe a huge bunch of posts on Barcelona and my recent trip there. Postcards and anecdotes to follow.

Hello Saturday – Steaming dhoklas

To my own greatest surprise, ever since getting back from India, I haven’t been reluctant to cook. Rather the past week has been filled with a wide variety of cooking exploits… ranging from good old dosai to exotic palak paneer. From sundakkai vathakozhambu (which was awesome by the way – recipe to follow) to theplas. However when I woke up today, I had a distinct craving for dhoklas. Those yummy, fluffy Gujju delights that are so comforting. What better to do than to make them?

Dhoklas, uncut sitting in the baking dish.

I followed a variation of Priya’s recipe with whatever ingredients I had. I  didn’t have the Eno salt and so I skipped that part. However I did add a French-based levure (a basic baking risening agent) instead. The results were pretty good. Also I didn’t make it in the pressure cooker. Instead I baked it in the oven for 12 minutes at the highest setting. This worked out great too. Not only did they rise sufficiently, they were porous and fluffy as well. And taste was pretty great. As Priya said, it’s all about the tempering. :)

 Dhoklas.

Unfortunately I have no pictures with them cut and served. They smelled so good that no sooner did I cut them, they vanished into our tummies. So, bon weekend and bon appetit!

Pappi Bhelwali

That's what my dad called me when he learned I'd made bhel puri for the husband... Here.. take a look.

The ingredients (including the teekha /meeta chutnies) -

The end product (phenomenally yummy - ask S if you want)

And... I made theplas for dinner today. Pictures later!

Malabar-style parathas

Ok by that I mean the layered parathas… something like the frozen Deeps brand parathas. For the uninitiated, parathas are amongst the most popular Indian flat-bread variety and are omnipresent on the menus of Indian restaurants. For a while now, I seemed to be making only chapathis or theplas. So I thought it would make a nice change to make parathas instead. And soon I was tempted into trying the round layered variety, typical of the restaurants and so I set about making it…
Ingredients

Wheat flour (atta)	2 cups
Salt	to taste
Sugar	1 tsp
Milk	200ml
Water	Warm – 1/2 – 3/4 cup
Oil	as required

How
1. Mix the salt and sugar into the flour and knead into a smooth, slightly-sticky dough by adding all of the milk and the required amount of water. Knead for at least 4-5 minutes till there are absolutely no lumps whatsoever and it reaches uniform consistency (it should be like chapathi consistency).
2. Cover with a damp wet cloth and set aside for 10 minutes. This is for the dough to soak in all it’s moisture and get ready.
3. Take dough roughly the size of a large lemon or a mid-size tomato (more than you would for chapathi) and using a rolling-pin, spread it into a mid-sized chapathi of sorts. Meanwhile place an iron skillet on medium-high to cook your parathas.
4. Pour 1/2 tsp of oil in the center of the chapathi and spread it all over the surface with the tips of your fingers.
5. Fold the chapathi making it a “fan'” of sorts as shown in the Picture A. What you should be doing here is folding the oiled part into itself while keeping the dry bottom of the chapathi on the outside.
6. Now pinch one end of this long folded chapathi and make into a spiral as shown in Picture B.
7. Flatten it on either side and make it ready to be rolled again. Look at Picture C.

8. Roll out again like a chapathi. This remains surprisingly dry for the oil has all blended into the layers that you have just created. Look at the faint spiral visible in Picture D.
9. Put this dough on the hot skillet and add a 1/2 tsp of oil around its sides and spread it all over the paratha as it cooks. Holding your ladles or a cup on the paratha cooks it evenly and browns it evenly as well.
Tip:Alternately, you can choose to freeze your own parathas at this stage when they are rolled out and ready to cook. This is a big time-saver for those time-crunch days .
10. Cook on both sides till browned evenly and voilà, there’s your layer paratha… the layers come up as you cook the paratha and even more as you eat it. You can choose to add a drop of butter on top and spread it for a richer taste. But for the health-conscious, stop right here!
Serve with curd/subji or dal for a sumptuous meal. Pictured here with tadka dal and onions. Enjoy!
Bon Appétit!

Thepla Central..

The theplas I made :D