One Day At A Time

What to do you like to cook on special occasions or for dinner parties? When it comes to Indian food, I definitely like to treat my guests with a Paneer delicacy.  One can never go wrong with Indian Cottage Cheese. There is something so decadent about Paneer that everyone loves it. For today, lets eat Paneer Koftas in a creamy sauce of onions, tomatoes and almonds.

Sweet Vermicelli Kheer is well known to many of us. Today's post is about a savory Vermicelli or Shavige or Semiya Pulav. In my opinion, Vermicelli are healthier Instant Wheat Noodles. Ingredients: Vermicelli - 2 cups Carrots - 2 Green Peas - 1/2 cup Green/French Beans - 1/2 cup Potato - 1 small Green Chilies - 8 Cilantro/Coriander leaves - few sprigs Cashews - 5 Bay Leaf - 1 Turmeric/Haldi - 1/4 tsp Cumin/Jeera Seeds - 1/4 tsp Biryani or Pulav Masala - 1/4 tsp Salt Oil How to cook Savory Vermicelli Pulav: Heat 2 - 3 tbsp oil in a pan/skillet and add vermicelli. Sauté the vermicelli till they turn crisp and slightly brown. Save them for later. Dice the peeled carrots, green beans, peeled potato into medium pieces. Slit the green chilies lengthwise and finely chop cilantro. Heat about 2 tbsp oil in a pan and add bay leaf, cumin seeds. After a minute, add carrots, beans, peas, potatoes. Sauté till all the vegetables get cooked or th...

Chickpeas or Garbanzo beans in a spicy onion tomato gravy. Ingredients: Dry Chickpeas/Garbanzo Beans/Kabuli Chana - 1 cup Cloves/Lavang/Long - 4 Cinnamon/Dalchini - small piece Bay Leaf - 1 Cilantro/Coriander leaves - few sprigs Red chilli powder/Cayenne pepper - 1 tsp Oil - 2 tbsp Salt Onions - 3 medium Tomatoes - 2 medium Green Chilies - 4 Garlic - 4 big cloves Ginger - 1/2 inch piece Coriander Seeds - 2 tsp Cumin/Jeera Seeds - 1 tsp How to cook Indian Chole: Soak chickpeas in water for about 6 hours. Wash and cook soaked chickpeas in 2 - 3 cups water till soft. Roughly dice onions and tomatoes. Grind onions, tomatoes, green chilies, ginger, garlic, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, 1 tbsp cooked chickpeas to a fine paste. Heat about 2 tbsp oil in a pan/skillet. Add bay leaf, cloves and cinnamon. After a couple of minutes, add the ground paste. Stir fry the paste for about 10 minutes or till oil starts leaving. Add cooked chickpeas, red chili po...

Easy Chivda made with ready to fry Nylon Sabudana/Sago and peanuts.  Ideal for fasts.

Parathas are a good way to include some vegetables in our daily diet. Particularly, some highly nutritious root vegetables like beet.  These appetizing Beetroot parathas with aromatic cilantro, ginger are a nice and healthy change from the regular rotis. Ingredients: Wheat Flour - 1 cup Grated Beetroot/Beet - 1 cup Green Chilli Paste - 1 tsp Ginger/Adrak Paste - 1 tsp Chat Masala - 1 tsp Coriander/Dhania Powder - 1 tsp Cumin/Jeera Powder - 1 tsp Garam Masala or any spice mix - 1/4 tsp Cilantro/Coriander Leaves - few sprigs Butter or Oil Salt How to make Beetroot Paratha: Peel the beetroot and grate it.  Finely chop cilantro leaves. In a mixing bowl, add grated beetroot.  Add chilli paste, ginger paste, chat masala, coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala, cilantro and salt.  Mix all the ingredients well and set it aside for 20 minutes or longer.  This will soften the beets. Now add wheat flour, little at a time and kne...

Ingredients: Fenugreek/Methi leaves - a bunch Potatoes - 2 medium Basmati Rice - 1 cup Cashews - 5 Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp Green chillies - 6 Cloves - 4 Bay Leaf - 1 Biryani or Pulav Masala - 1/8 tsp (optional) Butter or Oil Salt Method: 1. Roughly chop washed Fenugreek leaves (with tender stems).  Peel the potato skin and dice it into medium size julienne pieces.  Place the potatoes in a bowl of water. 2. Wash rice well, about 3 - 4 times in water.  Let the rice drain in a colander for about 15 minutes. 3. Grind green chillies and coriander seeds with about 1/2 cup water.  Save it for later. 4. Heat about 2 tbsp butter or oil in a pressure cooker.  Add cloves and bay leaf.  After a minute add diced potatoes.  Saute potatoes for about 2 minutes.  Add chopped fenugreek leaves and cashew pieces.  Saute for a couple of minutes.  Add drained rice and biryani masala.  Fry for a minute and add ground chilli cor...

A Konkani Arum or Colocasia coconut Curry - less spicy, easy, simple yet tasty.    Maddi in Konkani is just another version of Colocasia root or Arbi or Arvi. Ingredients: Arum Root/Taro Root/Colocasia Root -  500 gms Onion - 1 medium Grated Coconut - 1 cup Dry Red Chillies (Byadagi variety) - 8 Coriander seeds - 11/2 tbsp Turmeric/Haldi - 1/4 tsp Tamarind - small pebble size Salt Oil How to cook Arbi or Maddi Ambat: 1. Peel the arum and dice it into bite sized pieces.  While cutting arum, apply few drops of oil to your hands to avoid itching sensation.  Cook the arum pieces in 1 - 2 cups water till soft. 2. Heat about 1 - 2 tsp oil in a pan.  Roast the red chillies for 2 - 3 minutes at low flame or till they turn crisp.  Keep them aside.  Roast the coriander seeds with few drops of oil till they turn slightly brown and aromatic. 3. Grind roasted red chillies, roasted coriander seeds, grated coconut, tu...

Ingredients: Semolina/Rava/Sooji - 1/2 cup Wheat Flour or All purpose flour (Maida) - 1/2 cup Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup Green chillies - 3 Cumin/Jeera seeds - 1 tsp Brown sugar or Sugar - 1/2 tsp Salt Oil Method: 1. In a mixing bowl, add semolina, wheat flour, coconut, finely chopped green chillies, cumin, brown sugar and salt. 2. Add about 1 1/2 cup water and mix well to avoid lumps.    3. Heat a pan and pour a ladle full of batter and spread it thin.  Drizzle oil and roast both sides till golden brown. 4. Serve instant dosa with chutney.

There are some ingredients which I always keep handy. Among those are two chutneys - a spicy Mint (Pudina) chutney and a sweet sour Dates Tamarind Chutney. When these chutneys are ready, making Bhel Puri for our evening snack is quite easy. Ingredients: Puffed Rice/Mamra/Kurmure - 5 cups Roasted Peanuts/Groundnuts - 2 tbsp Roasted Chickpeas/Garbanzo beans/Chana - 2 tbsp Boiled Potato - 1 medium Raw Mango - 1 small Onion - 1 medium Tomato - 1 medium Chat Masala - 1/4 tsp Mint Cilantro Chutney (hot) - about 1 tbsp Dates Tamarind Chutney (sweet sour) - about 1 tbsp Puri Shev Salt How to make Indian Bhel Puri: Finely chop onion, tomato, mango and peeled boiled potato. In a mixing bowl, add chopped onions, tomatoes, mangoes, potatoes, roasted peanuts, roasted chickpeas, green chutney, sweet sour chutney, salt and chat masala. Mix all the ingredients well. Add puffed rice and mix again. No exact amount or specific ingredients for this recipe.  Skip th...

A North Canara Konkani coconut curry with okra or bhindi. Less spicy, creamy curry tastes great with steamed rice. One of my Aai's recipes which I just love. Ingredients: Okra/Lady's finger/Bhindi - 450 gm Chopped Ginger - 1/2 tsp Green Chilies - 2 Split Black Gram/Urad dal - 1/8 tsp Fenugreek/Methi seeds - 1/8 tsp Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp Jaggery or Brown sugar - 1 tsp Salt Oil Grated Coconut - 1 cup Coriander/Dhania seeds - 1 tbsp Dry Red Chilies (Byadagi variety) - 5 Tamarind - small piece Turmeric/Haldi - 1/4 tsp How to cook Konkani Bhenda Ghashi: Roast red chilies, coriander seeds with few drops of oil till they turn  golden brown and aromatic.  Grind roasted red chilies, roasted coriander seeds, grated coconut, tamarind, turmeric to a fine paste using about 1/2 cup water. Heat about 1 tsp oil in a skillet or kadhai. Add mustard, fenugreek, black gram seeds. After the seeds pop, add diced (medium size) okra, finely chopped gi...

Healthy parathas made of green spinach and orange carrots.

Few days back I had blogged about an Okra Coconut Chutney recipe.  If you liked that chutney, this one with sauteed Cucumbers is definitely for you. Ingredients: Grated/Shredded Coconut - 1 cup Roasted split Chickpeas/Bengal gram/Dalia - 1/4 cup (optional) Finely Chopped Cucumber - 3/4 cup Green chillies - 8 Tamarind pulp - 1/2 tsp Salt Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp Asafoetida/Hing - 1/4 tsp Curry leaves/Kadipata - a sprig Dry Red Chillies - 2 Oil